At the United National Party May Day celebration, Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, Manusha Nanayakkara presented a resolution that addressed the situation of workers during the economic collapse caused by the last COVID epidemic.
He criticized those who used workers as a political tool instead of ensuring their safety and well-being.
“However, as a party that values universal virtues and promotes freedom from narrow frameworks, and having a responsibility towards the future of employees, it was us who established the Employees’ Trust Fund and increased the interest rate given to the Employees’ Provident Fund, making informal employees into regular employees, introduced a compensation formula when dismissing employees, introduced the Labour Disputes Act, and had the Gratuity Act passed. It should be reminded that it was us who took steps towards establishing financial stability and not them.
As a party with universal virtues that won freedom for the country, freed from racist, religious, and narrow frameworks, as well as a party with liberal results, I have submitted the following proposals for the security of human resources for a better tomorrow.
The interest rate provided by the Employees’ Provident Fund. We also aim to formalize informal employees and provide them with regular employee benefits.
In addition, we plan to introduce a compensation formula that would protect the rights of employees when they are dismissed. We aim to bring the Labour Disputes Act into effect to ensure fair resolution of disputes between employers and employees. Finally, we propose to pass the Gratuity Act to ensure that employees receive gratuity payments upon leaving their jobs.
It is important to remember that it was our party that took steps towards establishing financial stability in the country, and not our opponents. As a party that values human resources and their contributions to the economy, we will continue to strive towards providing them with the security they deserve, he said.
The resolution presented proposals for the security of human resources in the future, including:
1. A unified labour legal system that promotes small and medium entrepreneurship, creates a strong entrepreneur, and safeguards labour rights, while ensuring the sustainable safety and social security of the worker should be formulated and adopted in the legislature.
2. An active and effective programme should be implemented to increase the number of workers who contribute to the Employees’ Provident Fund, increase the number of contributing institutions, and include informal sector employees in the fund.
3. An extensive social security network should be implemented to stabilize the country’s open economic policy. This includes implementing a wide social security network for workers in the unorganized sector, who are not included in formal social security systems, and a contributory unemployment insurance system for employment termination or loss, similar to developed countries.
4. Strategic programmes should be implemented to create a human resource suitable for the modern world of work, which aligns with the strategic plan for a developed country in 2048.
5. The labour and foreign employment sectors should be digitized to create an economically productive human resource and ensure the safety and welfare of expatriate workers.
6. Legal provisions should be established to ensure the safety and health of workers in all workplaces, recognizing occupational safety and health as a fundamental right, as recognized by the International Labour Organization.
7. A formal legal framework should be formulated to prevent gender-based discrimination in the workplace, increase women’s labour force participation, and provide maternity benefits to employed women through a social security fund.
8. A programme should be created to protect the dignity, professionalism, and rights and welfare of workers in any profession.
9. Steps should be taken to encourage disabled and persons with special needs as human resources.
10. A plantation worker fit for the modern world of work should be created with strong rights and welfare.
11. A national market information system based on private and public labour markets should be implemented to gather big data for policy formulation for future technological changes in the world of work.
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