1 / 20

Labour Market Reforms Presentation to EFC Council By Director General

Labour Market Reforms Presentation to EFC Council By Director General. Sri Lanka - Major Challenges : Employment creation (productive employment) Increased incomes Compliance with International Labour Standards. Employment Creation : Requires Investment

lorand
Download Presentation

Labour Market Reforms Presentation to EFC Council By Director General

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Labour Market Reforms Presentation to EFC Council By Director General

  2. Sri Lanka - Major Challenges : • Employment creation (productive employment) • Increased incomes • Compliance with International Labour Standards

  3. Employment Creation : Requires Investment Increased Income : Requires enhanced productivity Compliance with I L S : Requires fundamental legal framework and implementation

  4. Investment and Productivity : Requires efficient labour market

  5. Some Key Features in an Efficient Labour Market • Employable Workforce • Job Placement Services • Facilitatory Industrial Relations system including efficient dispute settlement mechanisms • Rational / Streamlined Terms & Conditions of employment • Streamlined termination procedures • Unemployment protection • No undue regulatory imposition on labour costs • Flexibility

  6. World Economic Forum • The Global Competitiveness Report 2003/2004 • The Business Competitiveness Index • Criteria : • Sophistication of Company operations and strategy • The quality of the national business environment

  7. 2003 / 2004 Sri Lanka – 57th out of 101 2002 / 2003 Sri Lanka – 48th

  8. Sri Lanka : Improving Rural and Urban Investment climate (WB/ADB Report – 2005) Urban Sector constraints : Electricity, Policy uncertainty, Macro instability, Finance cost, Labour Regulations

  9. Employable Workforce • Rationalisation of Secondary, Tertiary Educational Policies / Strategies • Greater interaction between private sector and policy makers • Greater emphasis on identified areas vocational education / skills development • Special focus on foreign employment opportunities • Development of Entrepreneurial skills for self employment

  10. Job Placement Services • Accurate collection and dissemination of Labour Market Information • Counselling & Placement • “Jobsnet” - Expansion

  11. Facilitatory Industrial Relations System • Currently, system is adversarial • System needs to facilitate industrial harmony for productivity and competitiveness at enterprise & National Level • Develop enterprise based workplace cooperation mechanisms • Focus on IR culture than Legal Framework

  12. Effective & Speedy dispute settlement mechanisms • Alternate dispute resolution procedures, eg; Mediation

  13. Industrial Relations : Legislative Reforms • Focus on, • Reciprocal obligations between employers and trade • unions • E.g: Trade Union recognition • Collective bargaining • Notice of strike / lock out • Strike Ballot ?

  14. Rational terms and conditions of employment • Streamline working hours / weekly holidays for possible uniform application for uninterrupted production/services • Review of holidays • Streamline wage fixation mechanisms • Restructure Wages Boards • - National Wages Council (?)

  15. Unemployment Protection • Matter for social concern • Need for balance between flexibility in termination laws and unemployment protection • National unemployment insurance scheme • Remove / Minimize burden from individual enterprises Role of ETF

  16. Streamline Termination procedures TEWA remains a major issue Impact on employment creation / atypical forms of employment Current legislation needs to be reviewed for greater flexibility Labour Tribunals : Review the right to the relief of reinstatement.

  17. Undue regulatory imposition on labour costs TEWA No further increases in superannuation/protection benefits No legislated wage increases

  18. Trade Union Concerns • Freedom of Association and recognition of trade unions • Right to collective bargaining • Undue restrictions on the right to trade union action • Protection of Worker Rights (Job Security) • Unemployment insurance Vs. Flexibility in termination • laws • Consultation on socio economic issues (Social Dialogue)

  19. Political Leadership for change ? • Bipartite Initiative for Change ?

  20. Consultation (Dialogue) at National Level • National representative Body (Tripartite) • Efficient Secretariat : Research, Policy papers etc • Identified common objectives • Identified scope of activities / Responsibilities • Form Debating Forum to Constructive Consultation and meaningful outcome

More Related