Wholescale employment of girls under 18 mainly in retail shops – whose fault is it?

Samanmalee Gunasinghe who is the Co-President of the Women for Rights Movement (JVP affiliated hell raising mouthpiece with NO rational vision) made a statement yesterday, at a press conference to the effect that women are being exploited by the retail trade, against the law of the land, in that those under 18 are being employed for long hours as long as from 8am to 12 midnight!

Is this an allegation AGAINST the Government? Against unscrupulous retailers? Or against women themselves for allowing themselves to be exploited in this way?

Frankly she has missed the BOAT. She must direct her IRE at the JVP itself which associates with every TRAITOROUS intention in our society, which prides itself on taking our country in reverse, which does not have an overall vision of progress for the individual, the very same person that they supposedly are fighting for, and against the establishment. Simply put it is the JVP that allows exploitation of all due to the causes they espouse, befriending the INDEFENSIBLE.

To be on point here, why are youth as young as 14 employed in shops? You look at almost every shop window, for example in Maharagama, an area I frequent, and you see vacancy boards for shop assistants. The shop keepers wish to open hours to provide a service to their customers, and business for themselves, but they SIMPLY CANNOT FIND employees to do those jobs. They have to battle between being competitive, sell all their stock, open all hours for customer convenience, offer a good service to attract repeat customers, MOST OF ALL FIND THE STAFF TO DO ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Why are there so many vacancies? IN fact Sri Lanka has a Million Vacancies and we have over a Million people working in jobs that add to why this Country is going in reverse instead of providing a quality of life for its citizens.

In short JVP unions that protect its people, in obtaining a salary for unproductive work. There is NO worker exploitation in a country that has ONE MILLION VACANCIES as people have the option of leaving and joining a company that they feel works for them. So UNIONS merely protect their membership from competition, and threat to their gravy train of ignoble earnings. Be they the GMOA, be they THE PORT WORKERS UNION, be they IUSF students or be they UNEMPLOYED GRADUATES ORGANIZATION, they are merely trying to get something for nothing!

UNEMPLOYED GRADUATES, when no one in their right minds should be sitting at home NOT working when there are so many available jobs. Even more so for these graduates, traitors of our country, for sitting at home, when there is so much work to do to build this Country to a successful state from a failed nation status. These unemployed graduates, have the common sense surely to see that they can contribute to society, RATHER THAN wait for a job they are NOT capable of doing effectively and often being a burden on the State.

How can you justify someone who has been sitting at home for 4 years waiting for a teaching appointment that they believe is DUE TO THEM? At least that person should have spent that time while waiting for so long, to improve his skills if he had the wherewithal, or at least keep him or herself occupied in some constructive manner, hopefully also earning a living, so they get some idea of what living is all about, independence, managing with what they have got, and perhaps even finding their niche in life, discovering that the job they were originally waiting for is really not one that will give them the security and sense of satisfaction they originally believed they would get.

IT IS THE JVP who seem determined to prevent scholarship, prevent new avenues of hope, and prevent the enterprising from bettering themselves. Lets be clear, I agree there should be rules to prevent slave labor, exploitation, and abuse, I have campaigned for all that. However when a girl, who believes rightly or wrongly that she can earn some money working in a shop, while at the same time pursuing her studies, there is nothing wrong with that. We may wish to limit the hours a girl of 16 can work in a shop, just like in other Countries, but to prevent them from working to help them on their way in life’s ladder, by taking the first steps is abhorrent. DO they want people like the unemployed graduates at 38 still sitting at home, or a 16 year old contributing fully to the service sector of the land? The 16 year old is contributing to boosting the GNP while the 38 year old has leached on the state for all of the 38 years! With full backing of the JVP!

I would ask this Samanmalee to concentrate on making sure that women are protected from exploitation by ensuring there is a night bus service so these girls can go home, safely and cheaply, instead of being exploited by the three wheeler driver who belongs to their JVP affiliated association to protect their rights, so they can turn that girl into a LADY OF THE NIGHT! By offering her a sweetener belittling her retail job over one of pleasuring a punter or a JOHN!

There are many things that an organization representing women’s rights should DO. Please prioritize women’s rights. It should be harassment on transport, and a cry for safe public transport for them to get to work, NOT concentrating on areas, where women are further prevented from working/ earning a living!  

Should we surely not be grateful for living in a Country where there are employment opportunities galore, with the only bar being our unsuitability for what we are aspiring to! We should therefore change our aspirations or train so we are suitable for that position. NO ONE OWES US A LIVING

PS Those who feel they can better themselves overseas, while availing a free education provided by their motherland don't have to repay that cost to the state either, how fortunate that is!