Employees Provident Fund
5.1 Industrial Relations & Enforcement of Labour Law
5.1.1 Investigation  
Sri Lanka is highly concerned to protect labour laws. The ministry of labour Relations and Manpower is conducting urgent inspections and sector wise inspections to protect labour laws. Urgent inspections are carried out by a special committee enrolled with the minister, deputy minister, secretary, commissioner general of labour and other commissioners for investigating the violation of labour laws. Sector wise inspections act as the facilitator by providing advice with guidelines and examine the violation of labour laws. In the sector wise inspections, keen attention is paid to the trade unions activities.

As shown in the figure 5.1, in 2007, 131 urgent inspections have been conducted to defect the establishments that have violated labour laws.

Department of Labour conducts surveys on the identified fields such as non governmental organizations and foreign employment agencies. Under these surveys, 5 group inspections and 146 large scale inspections have been conducted in year 2007.

 

Figure 5.2 Sector wise Inspections (Trade Unions)
 
Source : Progress report,
MLR&M
Figure 5.1 Urgent Inspections
Source : Progress report,
             MLR & M
Figure 5.3 Other Inspections
Source : Progress report,
             MLR&M
5.1.2 Enforcement of Labour Law
Table 5.1 Enforcement of labour law
Source : Progress report,
             MLR&M
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5.2 Workers’ Safety, Welfare and Occupational Health and Hygiene
5.2.1 Industrial Safety
Figure 5.4 Inspection on safety health & welfare
condition and investigation of accidents & complains

Source : Progress report, MLR&M
The number of examinations of high risk machinery was increased in 2007 with compared to previous two years.
Figure 5.6 Examination of High risk machinary


Source : Progress report, MLR&M
Figure 5.7 Upgrading / Registration of factories.
Source : Progress report, MLR&M
The upgrading/ registration of factories have also been increased significantly in 2007 with compared to other two years.

Industrial safety is contributing to maintain good working conditions, conducive environment and in turn to enhance productivity of the workers. Following phenomena has been contributed to enhance the industrial safety in last three years.

The number of inspections on safety health and welfare conditions and investigations of accidents and complaints has increased by 11% in year 2007 with compared to the previous years.
Figure 5.5 Awareness programme on Occupational            Safety for workers

Source : Progress report, MLR&M
5.2.2 Occupational Hygiene
Table 5.2 Occupational Hygiene
Source : Progress report, MLR&M
5.2.3 Industrial Relations

Table 5.3Progress on Industrial Relation

Source : Progress report, MLR&M

The industrial dispute index has fallen to 40 in year 2007 from 55 in year 2006. The continuous decline of the index clearly shows that it has establlished industrial peace and harmony due to remedial actions and measures implemented by the Department of Labour.
Figure 5.8 Industrial Dispute Index ( 1995 = 100)
Source : Industrial Relations Division
           Department of Labour.
Table 5.4 Received Industrial Disputes ( January to December, 2007 )

Source : Industrial Relations Division
           Department of Labour.
Figure 5.9 Industrial Dispute ( January to December, 2007 )

Source : Industrial Relations Division
          Department of Labour.

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Strikes
It is important to note that, number of strikes and man days lost have remarkably been decreasing both in plantation as well as establishment sectors. This is an impact of the provisions made by the

Ministry of Labour and Department of Labour to maintain the industrial peace and harmony through tripartite problem solving mechanism.
Table 5.5 Strikes

Source : Industrial Relations Division
             Department of Labour.
Figure 5.10 Strikes ( 1995 - 2007 )
Source : Industrial Relations Division
             Department of Labour.
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5.3 Employees Provident Fund
Employees’ Provident Fund had been established for the purpose of providing benefits to employees. This is also directly related to the social protection pillar in decent work concept. In Sri Lanka, Employees’ Provident Fund is playing an active role to establish the social protection to its members.

There is an increasing trend of handling on EPF claims during the last three years.

9452 number of new employers was registered in 2006 while 6262 was registered in 2007.
Figure 5.11 Handling on EPF claims
Source : Progress report
              MLR&M		 Figure 5.12 Registration of new employers
Source : Progress report
              MLR&M
Table 5.6 Employee and Employer Accounts
Source : EPF Division
            Central Bank of Sri Lanka
Figure 5.13 Active Employee Accounts
Source : EPF Division
             Central Bank of Sri Lanka		 Figure 5.14 Active Employer Accounts
Source : EPF Division
             Central Bank of Sri Lanka
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5.4 National Institute of Labour Studies.
The National Institute of Labour Studies has recently been established for the purpose of strengthening industrial relations towards socio economic development of Sri Lanka. The progress up to now and the courses conducted by this institute are as follows.
 Diploma Courses
- Labour Laws and Industrial Relations
- Labour Management
- Productivity
Certificate Courses

- Motivation and Labour Productivity
- Human Resource Management
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Corporate Governance
- Basic Productivity Tools and Techniques
- Productivity Analysis and Measurement
- Essential Management Skills
- Trade Union Management
- Labour Administration
Table 5.7 National Institute of Labour Studies.
Source : Progress report, MLR&M
Three Day Programmes
- International Labour Standards
- Prevention and Settlement of Industrial Disputes
- Collective Bargaining
- Corporate Social Responsibility
- Communication and Negotiation Skills
- Impacts of Globalization on Industrial Relations
- Organization Behavior
- Knowledge Management for Productivity and Quality
- Participative Approaches for Productivity Enhancement
- Super 5S and Kaizen Management
- Internal and External Customer Care
- Present Roles and Responsibilities of Trade Unions		 - Conflict Management and Grievances Handling
- Trade Unionism Empowerment of Trade Union Leaders
- Disciplinary Procedure
- Positive Thinking and Work Ethics
- Social Security
- Leadership and Team Building
- Productivity Concepts and Practices
- Special Conditions for Employment Women, - Young Person and Children
- Terms and Conditions of Employment
- Value Engineering and Business Re- engineering
- Results Based Project Management
- Office Management
One Day Programmes
- Public Relations and Interpersonal Relations
- How to Become an Effective Leader
- How to Negotiate Effectively
- Introduction to Productivity
- Project Concept and Project Cycle
- Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) for Results    Based Planning
- Effective Communication
- Concept of Power and Leadership
- Positive Thinking and Self Motivation
- Decent Work Environment
- Productivity Based Wage System
- Motivation and Worker Satisfaction
- HIV/AIDS Prevention at Workplace
- Industrial Safety Gain Sharing; a Productivity   Tool
- Fundamental Rights
- Basic Knowledge on Industrial Low


- Changing Role of a Human Resource Manager
- Effect of Drugs and Narcotics on labour    Efficiency
- The Role of a Trade Union in the 21st Century
- Globalization Regional Corporation and Emerging   Challenges
- Process Reengineering for Trade Unions
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Kaizen Management
- Supper 5S as a Productivity tool
- Introduction to Balanced Scorecard
- Reproductive Health for Labour Efficiency
- Effective Speaking and Presentation   Techniques
- Wages Boards and Service Conditions
- Employee Social Security System in Sri Lanka
- Gender Sensitive HR Management

The organizations are invited to contact, Director General, National Institute of Labour Studies through telephone numbersor 011-2814972-6 through following address for the above programmes.
 
        Director General,
        National Instute of Labour Studies,
        No. 318,
        High level road,
        Colombo 06.
Major sources of information
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