Fr Sarath Iddamalgoda, who works as an adviser at the Manawa Himikum Piyasa Centre, a legal aid group that advises workers from Free Trade Zones, told AsiaNews that workers lost their job years ago and are still waiting for a settlement. About 200 of them used to work for Monta Garments, which shut down 25 years ago, and another 100 lost their job when Jewelarts closed 17 years ago. “There is another group, Richard Peiris, which dismissed more than hundred workers about two years ago,” Fr Iddabalgoda said; plus “Nisol, Coco Lanka, Seth row and so on.”

These workers want existing laws to be enforced. As Fr Iddabalgoda pointed out, “if you lose your job, you have a right to severance pay.”

Sadly, “no one listens to these workers,” said Sister Beatrice Fernando, who took part in the protest under a hot spring sun.

S. Ginasada, a 45-year-old former employee of Coco Lanka, said that workers cannot survive on the small amount of relief money they get. Instead, they want “the Labour Department and the government to understand that we exist as unemployed workers. We want labour and unemployment laws to be enforced.”

G. Beatrice Silva, 61, who used to work at Jewelarts when she lost her job in 1994, said that neither she nor any of the other 300 workers “got a cent from the company. Backed by Manawa Himikum Piyasa and other groups, we sued them but the case has been pending for the past 14 years without success.”

“For this reason, we want the government [. . .] to pay attention to us. We are like beggars and ask for immediate action to stop our agony,” she added

The Manawa Himikum Piyasa Centre has been involved with workers for many years. At present, it is working to defend their legal rights before the courts.