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Sri Lanka Labor Relations
The labor movement was large and politically active in the
1980s, although it suffered a loss of influence after 1977. Urban
strikes began in the 1890s and increased in number after World
War I. The first major labor organization, the Ceylon Labour
Union, was formed in 1922. In the 1930s, the legislature passed a
series of laws, including the Trade Union Ordinance of 1935, to
regulate the unions. This law made it mandatory for trade unions
to register with the government and to keep political and labor
funds separate. After World War II, the unions represented a
large proportion of the labor force, especially in Colombo and on
the large plantations. The leadership of nearly all trade unions
has come from the English-educated elite.
Union membership in 1988 was subject to fluctuations because
of competition among unions affiliated with different political
parties and because of personal rivalries among union leaders, as
well as a fairly rapid turnover of unions. The unions have
traditionally been strong in the state sector, especially rail
and road transport, the ports, and the government clerical
service. In 1983 observers estimated that about 1.8 million
workers, or just under one-third of the gainfully employed labor
force, were union members. Membership was fragmented into over
1,000 unions. Many of the unorganized workers were small farmers
and rural laborers.
Before 1977 many unions were affiliated with the Marxist
parties, especially the Trotskyite Lanka Sama Samaja (Ceylon
Equal Society Party), but in the late 1970s and early 1980s the
influence of the Jatika Sevaka Sangamaya (National Employees'
Union), which was affiliated with the ruling UNP, increased
greatly, and it became the single largest trade union. This
organization was especially strong in the state sector, and it
had a reputation for intimidation, violence, and discrimination
against Tamils. Another important trade union was the Ceylon
Workers' Congress, which represented a large proportion of the
Indian Tamil estate workers. After 1977 it was politically allied
with the government, but it nonetheless used the political
turmoil after 1983 to bargain for better working conditions.
Labor disputes were arbitrated through a variety of state
agencies, but these agencies have not prevented frequent and
costly strikes. Plantation strikes have been most common,
involving as many as 477,000 workers (in 1949) and as many as
1.12 million lost workdays (in 1966). In the remainder of the
private sector, the most turbulent period was in 1962 and 1963,
when over 1.28 million workdays were lost by strikes. In 1970 new
highs were reached, with 143 strikes and the loss of 1.31 million
workdays. In the mid-1970s, when many trade unions pledged not to
strike in return for substantial concessions, the number of
nonplantation strikes fell dramatically, although plantation
strikes increased. Since 1977 the unions in the nonplantation
sectors have been in apparent decline, in part because of changes
in the nature of the work force. Most employees of the new
textile factories in the free trade zone were young, unmarried
women doing shift work, who did not expect to be employed there
for more than a few years and who were little interested in
joining a union. Similarly, employees in the import and tourist
industries, sectors that grew in the years after 1977, had not
been successfully organized.
Data as of October 1988
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