"Sri Lanka official garment worker minimum wage ‘too low’", 13 May 2024

Sri Lanka’s garment industry minimum wage pay scale in general has “failed to cover a worker family’s needs due to high inflation,” a spokesperson for the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC)...told Just Style.

In March (2024), Sri Lanka’s government increased the national living wage by 40%, from LKR12,500 ($42) to LKR17,500 ($59) per month, on top of a LKR3,500 budgetary relief allowance, bringing the total minimum monthly pay to LKR21,000 ($70).

Although it is a big jump in terms of percentage, the CCC argues the amount is still low given the 5.9% inflation as of February 2024 (announced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka). This inflation rate also followed punishing 2023 inflation of 54.2% in Q1, from which it fell steadily to more manageable levels...

For an export-heavy sector like clothing, employing 350,000 workers directly the pay scale is “inadequate,” argued the NGO.

However...the Joint Apparel Association Forum general secretary Yohan Lawrence said the clothing sector’s own industry-agreed minimum wage, adding in the government budgetary allowance, stands around LKR24,000 ($80)...

The NGO has urged clothing brands to put pressure on clothing manufacturers to ensure they provide adequate worker rights on top of decent pay. Among the key demands are to stop increasing female workers’ overtime working hours from 60 to 75 hours per month, contract terms, protection from arbitrary termination and ensuring the safety of workers taking part in peaceful protests.

The country’s debt-ridden economy has been reeling under a long-drawn economic crisis triggered by a severe foreign exchange crisis that peaked in 2022 when Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves dipped to $50m...

Since then, following an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package and suspension of debt payments, the currency has started to appreciate against the US dollar, currently at around LKR297 to $1, compared to LKR324 to $1 in January 2023.

But these fluctuations have strained export-oriented sectors such as clothing, stated Lawrence: “We agree prices on a long-term basis” he said, any appreciation of the currency makes exports more expensive...