National Decent Work Awards:

Commercial Bank wins 'Gold'

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has received the Gold award in the Employer category at the National Decent Work Awards 2009, in acknowledgement of its outstanding contribution to the advancement of the national goal of "Social Dialogue on Decent Work for All."

This award stems from the commitment made by the Government, workers and employers' representatives of Sri Lanka at the 13th Asian Regional Meeting of the ILO constituents in 2001 to develop a National Policy and a National Action Plan for Decent Work.

The award which recognizes the commitment of the Commercial Bank towards creating a decent work environment while sustaining high performance in a highly competitive market was presented to Chief Operations Officer of Commercial Bank Ravi Dias by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at an award ceremony organized by the Ministry of Labour Relations and Manpower with the International Labour Organization (ILO) office in Sri Lanka.

'The Decent Work Agenda' of ILO is based on the principles and rights of workers at work, complying with international labour standards, employment and income opportunities, social protection, security and social dialogue, all directed at creating jobs of acceptable quality.

Commercial Bank's Chief HR Officer Chitral Amarasiri said: "The bank has demonstrated its commitment to comply with national and international labour standards as well as to promote the concept of decent work, by creating quality employment opportunities with fair compensation packages and gender equality."

The Bank has complied with the ILO standards by ensuring freedom of association and right to collective agreements, by practicing world class human resources strategies to ensure rights at work, by providing all necessary facilities to ensure employee occupational safety and health and by introducing terminal benefit and insurance schemes in addition to traditional schemes, he said.