Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka
By Gagani Weerakoon
The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE) yesterday said it will not be held responsible for the striking Sri Lankan employees at Vilocity Textile Industry in Egypt, if the authorities there take any action against them, since trade union actions are not encouraged in that country.
Bureau Chairman Kingsley Ranawake told the Daily Mirror nearly 140 employees are still continuing with their strike action which began on May 24, even after their demands had been granted. He also said there is a likelihood of Sri Lanka getting black listed like many other countries by the Egyptian government and thereby losing thousands of job opportunities in the future.
“This strike is extremely unfair and unethical as the Sri Lankan mission in Egypt along with Bureau officials negotiated with the management of the garment factory and all their demands were met. Now we have realized there is an invisible hand behind the continuation of the strike even after the matters were solved. We will not take responsibility for them as it is an extremely unreasonable move,†he added.
Mr. Ranawake also pointed out while the striking workers should have completed two years work according to the agreement they have only completed some four to six months work. “There were a few shortcomings from the management side too and we were able to patch up these things through negotiations. We were able to bring the basic salary of the workers up to 150 US dollars and provide them with proper food and lodging facilities,†he said.
He also said the Bureau will ask its officials to return to the country since it is pointless to waste time and money on a futile mission.
It is learnt these 142 Lankans, employed in Egypt, will be deported to Sri Lanka within the next few days unless they give up their week-long strike against the management.
Vilocity Textile is one of the leading industries in Egypt with 2,700 expatriate workers. Nearly 200 Sri Lankans are employed there and of them 142 are engaged in the strike. According to Egyptian labour laws no employee is allowed to engage in any form of strike action against management
