In another act of police-state repression, President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government has mobilised hundreds of armed police to break a courageous strike by mostly female textile workers in one of the government’s free trade zones near Colombo. Several striking workers have been arrested, and nearly 40 sacked, at Bratex, a Hong Kong-based undergarment producer, in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (FTZ).
The government and the company have been able to mount this offensive only because, far from mobilising other workers to defend the Bratex strikers, the Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union (FTZ&GSEU) has intervened to undermine the struggle.
On February 11, around 1,700 Bratex workers called an indefinite strike, demanding a 3,000-rupee ($US27) monthly wage increase and recognition of the FTZ&GSEU branch, which has about 300 members. The FTZ&GSEU did not call the strike, however—the Bratex workers walked out spontaneously. More...
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