The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe

¶ 01 Thank you.

¶ 02 We are moving to comprehensively reform labour statutes: consolidating 14 existing labour laws into four new Acts—on Industrial Relations, Labour Standards, Occupational Safety and Health, and Trade Unions. The expert committee appointed with Cabinet approval has already met four times and is progressing. Also, for years, our Labour Department officers lacked training; in the recent period, 387 training programmes were conducted with 39,420 participants.

¶ 03 Further, with the National Institute of Labour Studies and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, we rolled out numerous programmes nationwide. With the Department of Manpower and Employment, we conducted 24 district-level job fairs; 9,968 participated and many benefitted. We conducted 220 regional job and vocational fairs benefitting 27,932 people.

¶ 04 Each year 1,600–1,800 workplace fatalities or serious incidents occur, and many non-fatal injuries, costing about 4% of national GDP—around USD 4 billion. Our institutions are now intervening more swiftly than before. As of this year, 39 fatal and 1,136 non-fatal accidents have been recorded, with prompt interventions.

¶ 05 On EPF, we are undertaking measures to resolve issues and to bring the Labour Department and Central Bank onto a single digital platform so members can check their balances from home. As noted earlier, in the past year we have convened the NLAC six times, after it was inactive for 1.5 years, to maintain industrial peace and raise productivity.

¶ 06 Please give me 30 seconds to conclude, Hon. Deputy Chairperson.

¶ 07 In closing, during today’s debate on the votes of the Labour Ministry and the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government, I appeal to all working people in the state, private, plantation and semi-government sectors to join with us to make this a prosperous and livable country. Thank you for the additional time.