SRI LANKA: Threats and legal action against workers and human rights defenders by company in Kochchikade

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding repression against the representative of the workers and several human rights defenders by a company. The AHRC is seriously concerned about the developments relating to CCS Elsuma (Pvt) Ltd based at Daluwakotuwa, Kochchikade (near Negombo) which has blatantly disregarded an agreement entered into with workers under the auspices of the Commissioner of Labour for the settlement of a labour dispute and further went on to threaten the representatives of the works and several human rights defenders in the Negombo region.

CASE DETAILS:

The factory workers of CCS Elsuma (Pvt) Ltd of have gone on strike several times since 2005 on the issue of salary scales. (This company is part of an international group whose head office is located in Switzerland which is CCS Elsuma AG. Switzerland, at Werkstrasse 36, 3250 Lyss, Switzerland – Tel: 41 32 3879110, Fax: 41 32 3851434). This company engages in manufacturing parts for computers and other electronic equipment. At the Daluwakotuwa factory about 550 people are employed.

On 1 and 2 May 2007 the workers went on strike for two days to express dissatisfaction with the salary scheme proposed by the employer which they felt was unfair to them.

In order to settle this dispute there was a discussion before the Commissioner of Labour in the section of the Labour Department on Industrial Relations. In the discussions before the Labour Commissioner the Board of Investment (BOI) was also represented and there were representatives of the employer and the workers.

In these discussions it was agreed to form a Savaka Sabava (Workers Council) to negotiate on behalf of the workers and to pursue the matter of the salaries and the other matters regarding the worker’s welfare. The result of discussions before the Commissioner of Labour with the participation of the BOI was to arrive at this agreement. It was on the basis of this agreement that the demands raised by the workers with regard to their conditions including salaries were to be settled between the workers and the management. The workers believed that the management came to this agreement under the auspices of the Commissioner of Labour in good faith and that the management would honour the agreement.

The workers selected 12 persons as their representatives and this Savaka Sabava met and decided on a president and a secretary. The name of the president is Maximus Krishan Rodrigo, the secretary is W.T. Priyankara and the vice president is Roshan Costa.

The Savaka Sabava made several proposals regarding the salary scheme and presented it to the employer on 20 May 2007. The proposals of the Savaka Sabava centered around some salary discrepancies where about 56 workers were not to get any increment at all and about 123 were to get an increment of less than Rs. 500/= per month. Another issue raised was regarding 200 contract workers who had no guarantee of stability of employment.

The director of personnel promised to give a reply to the worker’s proposals in two days.

As there was no reply even after several days the Savaka Sabava contacted the director who said that a reply would be given within a very short time and the delay was due to the lack of opportunity to discuss the matter with a foreign director.

After several days of waiting the Savaka Sabava, through its president, gave a letter asking for an urgent reply and requested the management for an acknowledgment of the letter. As the director refused to give an acknowledgment a copy of the same letter was sent to him by registered post. At this stage the Savaka Sabava began to form the opinion that the management had not entered into the agreement arrived at with the intervention of the Commissioner of Labour and the BOI and that Mr. Lambert was deliberately behaving in a way indicating that there would be indefinite postponements of decisions relating to the proposals made by the Savaka Sabava under one pretext or another.

A few days later on 5 June 2007 the president of the Savaka Sabava went to inquire about the matter of their proposals and met the director in the presence of his wife. At this meeting the director told the president of the Savaka Sabava that a woman employee has made a complaint of some threats being made to her by the president of the Savaka Sabava.

This matter was brought to the notice of the Savaka Sabava by the president and the Savaka Sabava’s was that some manipulation was underway to dismiss the president of the Savaka Sabava as a way of side tracking the proposals that they had made. Accordingly the president was requested to make a complaint to the police regarding this matter.

On June 6, the management sent a letter of interdiction to the president of the Savaka Sabava. The Savaka Sabava saw it as an attempt to side track the discussion on the wage issue and the proposals of the workers. About 400 workers signed a petition to be sent to the Commissioner of Labour and the BOI requesting an inquiry. However, to date, neither the Commissioner of Labour nor the BOI has conducted any such inquiries. Thereafter outside working hours many workers participated in peaceful protest requesting the authorities to reinstate the president of the Savaka Sabava. These protests were conducted peacefully and often in the presence of police officers. There had been no breach of peace at any time. A complaint by the management that some workers and those who support them had made some threats to the management was investigated by the police and the police did not take any action on the complaint after the workers and others concerned denied all allegations and explained the nature of the industrial dispute that is going on.

On July 20, when some workers peacefully participated in a protest in an area completely outside the territory of the company some unknown persons came from within the company and began to take photographs of the protestors. The protestors questioned the photographers and asked if they were from a newspaper to which they replied negatively. They refused to divulge their identities and went inside the factory premises. The workers inquired who these people were from the security guard of the company and the security section replied that they did not know. As this is a time in Sri Lanka when kidnappings and forced disappearances take place the workers complained to the management that taking of the these photographs may be for the purpose of causing some abductions. However the management did not divulge who these photographers were.

On July 26, the president of the Savaka Sabava received a letter of termination of his services. Thereafter, the management tried to intimidate the workers from demanding adjustment of wages and other conditions proposed by the Savaka Sabava. In this manner the management is trying to go against the agreement arrived under the auspices of the Commissioner of Labour and the BOI, thus going against the conditions on which the strike of the workers from 1st to 2nd March was terminated. The dismissal of the president seems to be due to the fear that the workers may once again take to striking as the condition on which their strike was terminated has been dishonoured by the management.

The workers of CCS Elsuma (PVT) Ltd, Sri Lanka also want the sympathy and support of several civil society organisations in the locality where this factory is located. The management is also trying to silence these organisations and to harass the human rights defenders who have expressed solidarity for the workers. The management is seeking the intervention of the court to silence these organisations.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The company is trying to take legal action against three civil society activists for writing a letter, an emails and a pamphlet in support of the workers who had an agreement with the management under the auspices of the Commissioner of Labour and the Board of Investment (BOI), which has been dishonoured by the management. The company wants the court to censure the human rights activists because they wrote a letter, an email and a pamphlet in support of the workers. The company has sought an injunction from the court forbidding these civil society activists from engaging in any activity in support of the workers, or visiting the company or the surrounding area outside the company’s premises. The surrounding area outside the factory premises are properties that do not belong to the company and a public road open for the use of anyone.

The company claims that any act of solidarity extended to the workers amounts to disruption of the normal business of the factory which is producing computer parts and electronic goods. However, the company has not demonstrated how the writing of a letter, an email and a pamphlet has disrupted the company’s usual business.

This is an instance where a company assumes almost the powers of a demigod and attempts to portray all lawful requests by workers for the improvement of their wages and conditions as acts disruptive to the company’s normal business. Besides this, the company tries to repress civil society organisations who, by lawful means express their solidarity for workers.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the company below and express your concerns on the dismissal of the president of the worker’s council and demand it to reinstate him who merely acted as a messenger for the workers. For your information, the AHRC has written to head office of the CCS Elsuma group in Switzerland asking them to inquire into and intervene in this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER