Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135) - Sri Lanka (Ratification: 1976)

Article 3. The Committee had recalled that access to the undertakings for workers’ representatives is a basic facility in order to enable them to carry out their functions promptly and efficiently. The Committee had requested the Government to indicate whether trade union representatives are able to have access to export processing zones (EPZs) and if this right is guaranteed by law. The Government considers that the Convention and its accompanying Recommendation are not meant to give the right of access to the EPZs or the workplaces to all trade unions, but only to "representatives of trade unions" having membership in the enterprise and to "elected representatives of workers" operating in the enterprise. In this respect, the Committee refers to Paragraph 17(1) of Recommendation No. 143, which establishes that "trade union representatives who are not employed in the undertaking but whose trade union has members employed therein should be granted access to the undertaking". Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to ensure the application of this principle in EPZs, and to keep it informed of any measure taken, indicating also any complaint lodged concerning the right of access of workers’ representatives.