Labour dispute brings production trouble at State-owned sugar producer as losses mount
A labour dispute at the State-owned Sewanagala Sugar Factory has reportedly cost Lanka Sugar Company approximately Rs 250 million following disruption to production.
Employees returned to work from August 25 but production did not properly resume, according to Lanka Sugar Company Chairman Athula Kumara. Management subsequently temporarily closed the factory from August 29.
The dispute might ordinarily have remained an industrial-relations matter between employees and management.
There is, however, an unavoidable third party in this particular argument.
The public owns the company.
That makes a reported Rs 250 million loss considerably more than a disagreement between management and labour.
The factory is connected to farmers supplying sugar cane, employees dependent upon it for their livelihoods and a domestic sugar industry operating in a country which continues to spend foreign exchange importing food.
It also belongs to a State enterprise sector whose losses have repeatedly ended up being carried by taxpayers.
Workers have a legitimate right to industrial action and management has an obligation to operate the company efficiently.
Neither right removes the obligation to protect public property.
If Rs 250 million has genuinely been lost, the public deserves a clear account of how the dispute reached that point, who made the relevant decisions and whether the loss could reasonably have been avoided.
Because eventually somebody pays.
At a State-owned company, that somebody has an uncomfortable habit of being the taxpayer.
