More than 700 garment factory worker - girls have been terminated from their employment by Venture Garment Factory, Kotmalle. The management’s contention is that due to the loss of market arising out of global economic recession millions of US dollars worth of finished products could not be moved out, and the company is cash strapped.
The management, adopting this as a convenient excuse, has categorized the workers into two groups namely: those with or over 5 years in service and those with or less than 1 year in service. In the case of the former, the management has made it optional for the workers to decide whether they wish to leave with a 3 month wage packet as compensation and in the case of the latter the management, has decided to terminate the services but again has asked them to sign a document stating that they are leaving on their own.
All these workers are from the plantation sector, a quite a number of them fairly educated – passing GCE or A/L – and being on the look out for the employment. The families they come from depend on the income of these workers, and in view of their loss of employment now their respective families have been pushed into financial strait.
The workers in question – especially Tamil – are clueless about their future. They state that under the current tensed political situation, with their personal security being of chief concern they are afraid of moving towards cities.
They also state that even when they worked at Venture Garment Factory they were not paid according to their labour, yet, with much difficulties, they lived within their means and supported their near and dear ones back home.
Under these circumstances they are put into the present plight and even if they are able to secure jobs, they will continue to face the problem arising from both, out of poor income and security.
A general trend is that the garment factory workers do not join trade unions, for a reasonable fear of reprisal from the management. In the meantime there have been instances of some city based trade unions of which garment workers are members – limiting their activities to receiving check off facilities from the management, but doing little or nothing for the members from whom the subscription is checked off. The garment workers generally make this a point when explaining their de unionization. It is on record the garment industry is one of the major foreign exchange earners – to the tune of US$ 3.1 billion. This in itself is reason enough for government to think in terms of protecting these workers’ rights meaningfully and adequately in all spheres.
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