DailyMirror- Editorial:
We hear that the Labour and Labour Relations Ministry is in the process of introducing a five-day week for the private sector and has started discussions with the Employers and the Trade Unions, Labour and Labour Relations.
According to news reports about 8 million private sector employees would be “benefited” from the implementation of the five-day week.
“If the ongoing trialogue (Employers Federation, Trade Unions and the Ministry) on the issue is concluded successfully, the government will declare a five-day-week for the private sector employees on May 1st, 2011,” Minister Gamini Lokuge told this newspaper.
But we still do not know if the five-day-week affects the total working hours. This would be like cutting the trunk of the branch while sitting on the tip of it.
Despite this the govt. should consider increasing the working days to lure foreign investors. We already know that Sri Lanka has one of the least number of working days compared to the region, or the world.
India has 301 working days a year while we have only 277. In China, if there is a one statutory holiday, the govt. moves one adjacent weekend to create a three-day vacation period; if there is a three-day statutory holiday, the government moves two adjacent weekends to create a seven-day vacation period.
While it is true that the Workers’ Rights should be protected, the fundamentals of economy remain that good productivity is the only way to prosperity.
We should also realize that we are no longer alone in this world.
In an increasingly globalised world of commerce, these measures would mean missed opportunities – foreign countries would obviously opt for a country that has more productivity and more working days.
Very few in our country seem to realize that Employment creation is NOT creating posts in the Public Sector and stuff unemployed- under qualified graduates, though it is not their fault either. This in turn, increases the taxes and a vicious cycle is again started.
That means more burdens on the private sector.
This apart, five day a week or six day week or seven day a week, the key to economic prosperity is to boost real out put, the creation of wealth, real wealth.
Without wealth creation the country would not even dream of become a little miracle, let alone a big miracle or great miracle.
On the other hand one senior member of the government over the weekend said that CPC is not a charitable organization, but a business entity.
The private sector too follows the rules of market and economics or market economics. Cutting down on the working hours would mean cutting down the productivity and thereby cutting down the income/profit generated. Which eventually falls on the head of the worker as diminished wages and increments- this means it could hardly mean any benefit to the worker, though they may not realize the fact.
Vote catching is one thing, but making the country a miracle of Asia is another.