Migrant workers who come to the City for employment face a host of challenges - here are some

I was approached by a lady today 20th June 2018, who came to my office in Biyagama to seek help in finding a place to meet with young women who have come from far off parts for jobs in the Biyagama Export Processing Zone (this would be common to many other BOI zones too,) and I implore the Government to set up a room in the plush offices that they have their administration at the entrance to each of these zones, to at least have a team of counselors to listen to their grievances and assist them. After all they are the backbone, lowest earning labor that is in short supply today, and it is only if we make their lives a little more bearable will others come to take employment. You cannot say there are no workers, when they have to live in Chicken Cages!!

There is a severe shortage of workers in the BOI zones, and common sense dictates that people don't want to be treated like animals, so the better the working and living conditions, the higher the likelihood of people offering themselves into the workforce. 

The lady who came to seek my help had lost the use of the office she had where people would come for assistance with their peculiar problem, and now that house had been sold and she has NO place to work from. 

The major points we discussed.

We must have a secure location where women can come and talk one on one about their problems, and have a knowledgable counselor type person to be able to help them with their own unique problem.

These are rural women, who for a myriad of reasons come to Biyagama (and other zones) for employment, mainly between 14 and 30, and usually single, and needing money, some with little education, but instances where degree holders have also come are frequent, due to the particular pressure they face at home.

The list of the grouses are as follows:

1                   Accommodation is very poor and expensive, with some like chicken coops. Landlords sometime only come once a month on the 10^th pay day to pick the rent and don’t sight the rooms anyother time, where taps run dry, there is little water for cooking or bathing. The toilets are much to be desired and shared by many. Effectively you pay for what you get as the good ones are Rs10K a month, hardly affordable by those on Rs25K a month, and the bad ones are around Rs3K including sharing of common facilities including the rooms.

2                   Landlords turn a blind eye to harassment faced by women from men in close proximity, citing it is not their job to police the tenants. Some women who are extremely naiive fall into traps from which they cannot extricate themselves.

3                   The women DON’T KNOW their rights, or the law and are therefore exploited, when in fact they don’t have to be in a tight labor market. So employers pay less than they should, don’t deduct EPF/ETF and give minimal labor rights, and they just don’t know who to ask, coming from rural areas, ignorant of labor rights.

4                   They are unaware of the tight labor market and I explained that good jobs are available with some kind of accommodation guarantee in good establishments and it was the duty of the lady to meet these HR managers to find out if they have vacancies and send girls there. The girls themselves are unaware as was this lady today, about the fact that there are so many vacancies and no people to fill them. So present employers are holding on to them with lies, implying that if they lose their job they will be on the road, unable to pay their bills.

5                   There is a quadruple whammy, not just employers and landlords, and sometimes even shops that completely remove them of their income on the 10^th when they are paid, there is a whole colony of men who live on these women by conning these innocent ones, they also effectively use them for sex and with lies keep them on a string, and then throw them out when not needed.

6                   The pressure from families for money, to help parents, and pressure to send money home, further reduces them to destitution by coming here.

There is a poverty trap they get into and I advised the whole aspect of counseling MUST be get them out of the trap they have got themselves into. There is no point coming to an EPZ to work, if they are at least unable to save a minimum of Rs5K a month, to send home or put into their savings account. It makes no sense to sacrifice, comforts, of familiar sorroundings for anything less than that. It is therefore our duty to point that out to them and get them to change their habits, or behavior to achieve this or at least change their jobs for one that allows them this minimal saving.

This is to get these people to reach a personal goal they set themselves and I suggested finding some winners who have conqured all these problems as stated above and are now fine. I wanted to get them, at least 5 to talk to these girls that to those in despair that there is light at the end of the tunnel if they change their behavior a little and to give examples of this change required to get to the goals set, as it is not impossible, especially in 2018.

In Conclusion

Once those in need know of a place they can obtain help with complete confidentiality, it is the duty of the center to provide them with a blue print of how to extricate themselves from the problem they have come to the center with. There is no point helping them if that is not the objective, and can be clearly even presented to them in a step by step manner, depending on their level of intelligencec and ability to grasp simple concepts, that some find hard. There is also the possibility to show alternatives available to them for them to improve their lives and to offer to help if they indeed ask for it only.

PS

When this country needs more women workers see link below, it is shameful that the workers who have made the move out of their villages to work are treated so shabbily, with no system to ensure that they enjoy some basic human rights when living outside of their home environment.

http://www.economynext.com/More_female_worker_participation_can_boost_Sri_Lanka_growth__IMF-3-10983-1.html