Construction sector: Labour Ministry to regulate immigrant workers

The Labour Ministry is holding discussions to implement policies for immigrant construction workers, at a time when the country is seeing a lack of labour in the field, while the Housing Ministry is implementing better work conditions and rebranding it as a stable job to attract local labour to the field, The Daily Morning learns.

When contacted, Labour Ministry Secretary S.M. Piyatissa said that at the moment, the recommendations for visas for immigrant construction workers are offered by the relevant Ministries at the request of the construction companies without the mediation of the Labour Ministry. Hence, the Ministry has identified the need for a policy to regulate the sector and it is now working on obtaining Cabinet of Ministers approval in order to make a policy regarding the immigrant construction workers. "We are making arrangements to obtain approval by the end of April or the beginning of May," he said.

"The reason we lack local labour for construction sites is there is a reluctance of the labour force of the country in choosing this sector. That is because of the lack of recognition. As a solution for this, the Housing Ministry has already taken initiatives," he added. According to him, the construction workers too will be paid a regular salary for the hours they work and overtime (OT) payments will be given when they work OT. 

“Furthermore, uniforms for them will be introduced too. Training also will be given”. He added the Labour Ministry is ready to give those trained construction workers training on professional security also. According to him, another issue with construction workers is that their financial literacy is less, hence that also makes them economically challenged. Therefore, they are also planning to launch programmes to give them financial literacy too, to make them financially more stable.

When contacted by The Daily Morning, Deputy Housing Minister, T.B. Sarath, confirmed the initiatives taken by the Housing Ministry.

The Housing Ministry had plans to bring 7,500 construction workers to the country for post-disaster constructions, citing a lack of labour in the field within the country. The sector currently faces nearly 10,000 vacancies, with officials projecting a shortfall of up to 20,000 workers by 2026 as major firms seek to recruit from India, Bangladesh and Nepal to meet the growing demand.

Source - The Morning