Sri Lanka Will Allow Electronics Firms to Hire Women for Night Shifts

U.S. microelectronics firms are entering Sri Lanka, bringing in their wake a drastic change in the labor laws relating to women.

Motorola was the first U.S. microelectronics firm to invest in Sri Lanka, signing an agreement on October 28, 1980 to build a $22 million factory for assembling semiconductor devices in Sri Lanka's Greater Colombo free trade zone.

"The entry of electronic industries means... that women will have to be employed in three shifts," said Upali Wijewardene, director general of , the Greater Colombo Economic Commission, which has authority over the free trade zone.

The addition of a third, or night, shift required a fundamental alteration of Sri Lankan law. "Sri Lanka is a signatory to the ILO (International Labor Organization) convention which prohibits the employment of female workers between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.," explained Wijewardene to the Sri Lanka Investment News in early 1981. "The government has decided that they will have this particular section denounced."

Legislation enacting this change is expected in the near future. There "should be enabling legislation in the next month or so," says Tony Broughton, regional director for Motorola in Asia. "That is correct," says K.J. Weeresinghe, commercial officer at the Sri Lanka embassy , in Washington.

"As a condition for coming in, Motorola asked the government to roll back" the law restricting night work by women laborers, says Lenny Siegel, director of the Pacific Studies Center and editor of Global Electroics Information News.

Motorola denies that it lobbied for the removal of the law, but admits that it is a welcome occurrence. "We consider third shift working to be very important," says Motorola's Broughton.

Recently joining Motorola in Sri Lanka is the Harris Semiconductor Company, the tenth largest commercial microelectronics firm in the world (Motorola is second, behind Texas Instruments).

The Florida-based Harris signed an agreement on February 3, 1982 with Sri Lanka to construct a factory for producing microelectronic circuits in the Greater Colombo free trade zone.

"We are bulling a plant for $5.6 million which is designed to be capable of expansion of 600%," says Fred Baker, director of public relations for Harris Semiconductor.

One reason Harris decided to invest in Sri Lanka is because of tax and other concessions that are the trademark of the free trade zone.

"We were influenced by the attractive incentives being offered," says Philip Koester, director of offshore operations for Harris. Among these incentives are 100% tax exemptions of up to 10 years for corporate and personal income, royalties and dividends; no import duties on machinery equipment, construction materials or raw materials; and no limits on equity holdings by foreigners.

Labor was another incentive for Harris. "Sri Lanka has a labor force with a wide educational base, who can be easily trained to meet our needs," Koester says. "This was a decisive factor."

Asked about the importance of the change in the labor laws for attracting the company, Harris' Baker would not comment directly. He did say, however, that "the economy of not operating in the night shift could be doubtful."