Labour experts meet in Negombo

Twenty experts in the employment field and labour studies gathered in Negombo for a two weeks training on the impact of globalization on labour. High on their agenda was the prospect of realizing - in our globalized world - Decent Work for all. Changes in trade regimes, global production systems and trends in manufacturing strategies were reviewed. Responses from the labour movement and civil society - national and international - were analyzed. At the level of the firm, participants compared how the stakeholders view social dialogue and collective bargaining as different means of resolving conflict. The training course Globalization and Labour: New Global Strategies to Organize Work, Impact on Labour and the Reactions of Society took place in Negombo from September 13 to 25.

The training was jointly organized by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), a Colombo-based economic policy think tank, and the Rotterdam Erasmus University International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), located in The Hague, the Netherlands. For its general part the course builds on the MA program offered at the ISS.

In technical sessions as well as during visits to and discussions with relevant stakeholders, course participants learned about latest trends in international flows of trade and investment and how they have brought mixed results in terms of employment creation and decent work. Global economic integration with a dispersion of employment in global value chains and the accompanying increasing informalisation of labour relations has been one of the most fundamental changes in the worlds of work that has affected the Sri Lankan labour market also.

In his opening speech IPS Executive Direct or Dr Saman Kelegama highlighted that the rise in foreign direct investment and trade since the liberalization of the Sri Lankan economy has heightened competition between companies and countries.