Dear Comrades,
This update contains good news. At 7.00pm on Monday 20th of September an agreement was reached between the Workers Council, representing the workers and the Management of Fine Lanka. The agreement met all of the workers demands and ended a month long action by 1000 workers of Fine Lanka company located in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone(FTZ) - Sri Lanka. Workers celebrated into the night after the signing of their agreement, shouting victory slogans and letting off fire crackers.
This is a substantial victory for workers, as most disputes within the FTZ, if not resolved quickly go on to arbitration - this can take up to two years for an outcome. All workers remained unified throughout this dispute, with no one breaking the strike, obviously this was the main reason they won their demands. Often however, when disputes occur within the zone, some workers return to work after a few days of action making it difficult to win their demands.
Initially workers were locked out following a token one day strike in support of three dismissed workers, including the President of the Workers Council. The lock out ended on the 13th of September, but workers refused to return to work as their demands had not been met. Workers then went on strike in support of their demands. Numerous talks were held with the Workers Council and Management by the Board of Investment and later the Deputy Commissioner of Labour. During one of the talks at the Labour Department in Colombo all workers held a demonstration outside the Labour Department in support of their demands. Management did not show up, but the pressure from workers forced the Deputy Commissioner to act and compel Management to attend talks two days later.
Workers are determined to tell the story of their struggle and victory to other workers within the Free Trade Zone to inspire them to continue to organise and to take action in support of their demands.
The Joint Association of Workers and Workers Councils of the Free Trade Zones of Sri Lanka (the organisation that the Fine Lanka Workers Council is a member of) would like to express it's thanks, from the workers to everyone who sent letters of support and solidarity in their struggle. This victory belongs to you as well as us and is a significant step forward for the working class in Sri Lanka, which ultimately represents a step forward for workers everywhere.
In Solidarity and with thanks,
Anton Marcus
Kelly Dent
Padmini Weerasuriya