Worker Relations

September 02, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's employers and labour unions have set up a dispute settlement mechanism funded by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the aim of improving industrial relations. The Association for Dialogue and Conflict Resolution (ADCOR) is tasked with resolving employment related conflicts, making representations to authorities and conducting regular dialogue on issues of mutual interest.

It has been set up by the Employers' Federation of Ceylon (EFC) and the Association for Trade Unions and Research.

Tine Staermoes, director of the Colombo office of the ILO says the ADCOR will help to achieve employee objectives such as improvement of wages and working conditions.

Cordial dialogue among workers and employers is essential to promote fundamental rights and principles at work.

"Social dialogue is an integral part of the decent worker agenda. It is also a means of achieving the objectives of that agenda," she said at the inauguration of the association.

"It is a tool designed to protect and promote worker interests by introducing the principles of democracy and human dignity at work places."

Trade unions are bodies with collective bargaining skills