Govt. planning to introduce 12-hour workday: JVP

by Saman Indrajith

The JVP-led NPP says the government is planning to introduce a 12-hour workday.

JVP propaganda secretary and NPP MP Vijitha Herath, addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, yesterday, said that the government was trying to deprive the workers of their legitimate rights by abolishing labour laws at the behest of the IMF.

MP Herath said the government was planning to abolish 13 Acts including the Shop and Office Employees Act and the Wages Boards Ordinance.

“The Shop and Office Employees Act ensured the rights of working women. The employer is required to provide transport to women if they work after 8 pm and their consent is necessary for them to be rostered for night duty,” he said.

The JVP would fight for the rights of the working class and mobilise workers and trade unions to achieve that end if the government did not abandon its sinister plans to extend the workday, Herath said.