Blog

by Amalini De Sayrah

On Friday August 20^th, a digital publication ran an article that bore the following quote from an exporter;

“Sri Lanka’s exports show a remarkable rise despite the current pandemic situation across the World, thanks to the utmost courage, determination and continuous improvements shown by our exporters in sustaining export business during the pandemic”.

On the same day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his special address to the nation noted that;

“The country’s economy would be in great crisis if the country was put under another complete lockdown. It is not a situation that this country can bear. A large number of orders have been received by the apparel industry in the export sector. If we are not able to deliver these orders on time, we may lose a large amount of foreign exchange.” 

On the same day still, a social workers who supports apparel factory workers wrote about the conversation they’d had with one such worker;

“Everyone thinks garment work is done in a healthy and safe way. But they don’t give masks or fumigate the factories, there is no social distancing while we work, disinfection of the machines and areas are irregular, the close contacts of infected people are not quarantined, while we see more and more cases everyday. It doesn’t matter if we leave in closed transport in the evening and return in the same order in the morning. We are unsafe. In garments, we are unsafe.”

The fact that the COVID pandemic has taken a disproportionately high toll on the apparel manufacturing sector is not a breaking issue. During the scrutiny but also long after the attention around the cluster at the Brandix Minuwangoda has receded, apparel workers in factories and Free Trade Zones across the country remain at higher risk for contracting the virus, and unable to avoid this situation. 

‘Disproportionately high toll’ here refers to the health and lives of the apparel workers, who sew, cut and quality check items that then go out to buyers local and international. All reporting on the industry thus far seems to focus only on this stage onwards – the output, the earnings, the profits – conveniently erasing the labour that actually produces the items. The focus on the ‘courage’ of the export fraternity is therefore misplaced, for indeed the exporters would not be able to have such courage if apparel workers were risking their lives and health to go into work everyday.

The apparel sector was listed as an essential service during the travel restrictions put in place earlier this year, with workers allowed to travel across provincial boundaries for this purpose. Its contribution to Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange earnings is significant, as recognised by the President. Therefore, as several trade unions and workers rights group put forth, the very least the industry could do to protect these ‘essential workers’ would be to provide them with a safe and secure working and living environment if they are expected to continue operations even as the Delta variant spreads through the country.

In a letter to the Minister of Labour, these groups address a wide range of issues that have prevailed across factories and FTZs for close to a year now.

Failure to implement recommended and methodical health care systems

Workers in several factories allege the non-compliance with basic health guidelines, and the irregularity with which the cleaning and sanitising of their work spaces and public spaces takes place. A factory where hundreds of people are in close proximity to one another is not an ideal working environment to begin with, but poses a higher risk when an infectious variant of a respiratory illness is spreading rapidly. Some workers say they are not provided with a mask by their employer, and instead need to purchase their own.

Issues arises with the workers’ living conditions as well. As the FTZ workforces comprise primarily of workers who have ‘migrated’ from other parts of the country, they reside I n boarding houses close to the Zone. These houses sometimes accommodate upto 50 workers, from a mix of factories who share rooms and toilets.

As the availability of quarantine facilities have reduced, local health authorities tell workers to quarantine within their rooms. However ‘isolation’ is far from possible in these quarters. As workers are afraid to lose their wages, or are threatened with termination if they do not report, those who are close contacts of the infected workers continue to travel to the factory. Quarantine centres have been set up in buildings within some Zones, however as it would require their employer to pay a daily rate for the period of their treatment, workers are not always directed to these centres.

Failure to perform antigen and PCR testing properly

Experts have long raised concerns with the inadequacy of community testing in Sri Lanka. Within the Zones in particular, testing is carried out among small groups at random, but close contacts of anyone who tests positive are not referred for any follow-up action. For example, if a worker tests positive, those who sit on either side of them on the production line are not tested as well. Workers and rights groups feel that the testing is maintained at low levels because if a large number of positive cases are detected, it would mean less people working on production targets.

Failure to provide the vaccine and or avoiding the opportunity to get vaccinated

Board of Investment representatives claim that a large percentage of the eligible workforce has now been vaccinated. However, workers report that they were not granted duty leave to go and get vaccinated, and many were reluctant to obtain it because they knew they would not be able to take leave to recover from possible side-effects. The lack of vaccination sites close to the factories and the lack of information proactively provided by employers about vaccination has also impacted the workers ability to access vaccination.

Denial of workers’ labour rights

Since the initial curfews in March 2020, there has been widespread termination or pay and bonus cuts for workers in apparel factories. Currently, even when the full workforce is in operation, workers are paid either half their basic salary or Rs.14,500. This measure only benefits the company profiting off the labour of the workers, while leaving them in an even more dire situation at this time. This wage is hardly enough to sustain themselves, especially those with families, much less settle debts and send money to their family in their home villages, who are also struggling at this time.

Employers also raise production targets in order to recover from losses experienced last year. However, as more workers test positive and the active workforce reduces with less people per line, they are still expected to meet the production targets previously met by the total workforce.

A common rebuttal to all of the issues raised above is that ‘not all companies are like this’. This is true, in that some companies do provide adequate quarantine facilities for their workers and pay them their due amount while they are recovering. However, a vast number of employers still continue to put their staff at extremely high risk in order to produce goods for export. The ways workers share close spaces where they live and work means that unless strong health guidelines are implemented across the industry at both these levels, the COVID virus will continue to spread uncontrolled.

An island-wide lockdown is currently in place to contain the spread of the virus. Daily, the Gampaha district, where three of the main FTZs are located, records the highest number of cases. So long as factories continue to function with this level of carelessness for the health of their staff, it will be counter-productive to any goal of reducing the transmission of the virus. As workers and worker rights groups state, if the industry is identified as an ‘essential’ element of the country’s economy, employers and the government must prioritise the health, safety and security of the workers whose labour makes this possible.
Blog writers raise issues of contemporary relevance and contribute to a vibrant discussion on human rights and related issues. They express their personal views and not necessarily those of the LST, its Board and its members