The Pay
Socialist Organiser1984 1984-01-19Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 5 →
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fishing nets.
The agonising dullness encountered by the women in this work is clear from their words:
"We find this work very tiring; we feel as if our hands are paralysed. We get corns on our hands.
Some of us who handle the cuttings of steel shavings that have to fixed on to hooks find that our hands and feet are full of blisters and eyes water with dust frồm the shavings.
We are given petrol to wash dust from our hands, but no soap to wash the petrol away. The nature of the material we handle, the agony of work and its dulling effect, is such that we cannot even take our meals. It is only at the weekends that we enjoy a meal... of the women labour force. In the factory that produced fishing gear, the Sri Lankan labour productivity was the best in Asia; in a garment factory which produced knitted gloves, the productivity was 90 pairs per girl per day, compared to 65 in Pakistan.
Although the incomes of the women workers of the Free Trade Zone were better than of those outside the FTZ, the pace of work in the garment factories outside the FTZ as well as other conditions were more relaxed, and stresses less than in the FTZ.
Although major accidents were minimal there were minor accidents, the most frequent being injuries to fingers* with machine needles. Many workers Average mı manufactur dollars)
Sri Lanka Indonesia India China Thailand Malaysia Philippines Taiwan South Korel Singapore Hong Kong prior to recruitment to ensure that those who are not in good health are not selected. It also appears that the system ensures that they are retained only as long as they remain in that condition of good health.
Most women workers looked upon their jobs as something which they would do perhaps for thè next five to ten years at most, after which they either hope to cease to work or aspire to some white collar type of job.
Sri Lanka's national characteristics of high literacy, high secondary school attendance, etc. were reflected among these workers. 28% had done the GCE O Level, and nearly 70% of the workers had completed secondary school education.