Can an eight-hour shift vouch prosperity? - EDITORIAL

The May Day rallies held across the country on Wednesday were significant from a workers’ point of view unlike ever before because all potential presidential candidates have stressed that the islanders must focus on a production-oriented economy in the future.   

At a time when the country’s political leaders collectively think that Sri Lanka must raise its production, the phrase ‘protect the rights of workers’ is of paramount importance. This year the theme for the May Day rallies revolved around ‘ensuring safety and health of workers in a changing climate’.   

The National Peoples Power (NPP) or even more the larger rock in this equation the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has a past it must change. That past is about attracting gigantic crowds at rallies on May 1 and at regular meetings, but not having adequate votes to show when it comes to election time. This trend continues to date, but there is an eerie feeling in the air that these large crowds throwing their weight behind the NPP are for real.   

That eerie feeling will haunt mostly the people who wish to continue making a living in a questionable manner. Then there are the ones who make a living in a decent manner, but fear the JVP for their violent past. There are also those who fear this alliance growing in popularity because the JVP has spread its tentacles in the production sector via its links with the trade unions. We all know that trade unions are there only to win the rights of workers and to block most of the positive decisions taken by the management of an establishment. Positive decisions lead to growth, which is possible through foreign investment and long hours by workers.   

NPP’s rally held at C.W.W. Kannangara Mawatha was impressive. But among the placards carried was one that left room for disappointment and concern. It read ‘Don’t touch the eight-hour work day’. If the country’s production must be increased then workers cannot be clock-watchers. The NPP must seriously review the thinking that has gone into this banner. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa both worked and walked alongside the worker. This leader set the example for hard work by getting up before the cock crows and set the pace for others to work. Quite by coincidence, Premadasa died on May Day in 1993.   

The NPP sports the symbol of the hammer and sickle; symbols of socialism that drive a sense of reservation into the minds of ambitious foreign investors who have earmarked Sri Lanka. However, the NPP’s hierarchy has affirmed that people should not associate the alliance with JVP’s past and support its cause which is to develop the country. In the Daily Mirror comments section for the readers there was a comment by a reader which read, ‘The hammer and sickle represent one of the world’s failed models of socialism. Can it be modified and adapted to suit Sri Lankans conditions’. These words are food for thought for those who still believe in socialism.   

Socialist parties and the NPP campaign for workers’ rights, but seldom do they lend a voice from the perspective of a pay hike for workers. It is in this context that this column refers to the pay hike announced for estate workers on May Day by none other than the president himself. President Wickremesinghe has announced that estate workers be paid a daily wage of Rs 1,700; earlier these workers received less than Rs.1,000 a day despite there being promises to reimburse the hard work of workers put in each day with a green note bearing number one and three zeroes.   

One of the realities that must be understood with growing business empires is that they obtain solid labour-paying cheap wages. Phd holder and University Lecturer Nimal Ranjith Dewasiri speaking on a recent television breakfast show recalled trends in the world which is to hire cheap labour. In this context critics pose the question whether an alliance with a tilt towards socialism can ensure that the living conditions of workers would be raised if there is a change in government?