This is the third wave of the Covid epidemic. Since the outbreak of the Covid epidemic in early 2020, many private sector workers have been affected.
In particular, the second wave of Covid started at a garment factory in Minuwangoda. From the beginning of the Covid epidemic until now, free trade zone workers have been facing many problems. Losing their jobs in particular is a major one. Many of the privileged factories, such as wage auctions and overtime redundancies, were cut off, leading to the Covid plague.
The contract workers and the Man Power employees were even more inconvenienced than the permanent employees. It has been revealed that around 150,000 workers in the export garment sector have lost their jobs during the recent Covid epidemic.
Anton Marcus, co-secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union, said the pre-epidemic garment sector employed 500,000 workers and now employs only 350,000. This is shown by the statistics of the Joint Forum of Apparel Organizations.
The government had stated that no workers would lose their jobs during the Covid epidemic. But that is not happening right now, says Anton Marx, who says international buyers and employers have gone so far as to cut jobs and lose jobs.
He also alleges that the orders received at present are being fulfilled by the labor of a minimum number of employees.