3^rd January 2011

Hon. Gamini Lokuge

Minister of Labour & Labour Relations

Labour Secretariat

Colombo 5

Dear Hon. Sir,

Clarification relating to the EFC proposal of

spreading over of working hours for a 5 day week

We write with reference to our proposal made to you with regard to the above and our letter of 10^th November 2010 which clearly explained the propriety of spreading over working hours of a weekly half holiday over the 5 days of the week.

There has been some misunderstanding in relation to this matter, especially in the media and we would therefore wish to clearly clarify our proposal with regard to same as follows:

1.        Firstly, our proposal is not to have a uniform rule with regard to a 5 day week for the private sector. The rationale behind our proposal is to enable employers who require the flexibility of spreading over working hours over the 5 days to do so without any additional payment.

2.        The working arrangements of a 5 day week therefore cannot be uniformly applied and what is required is to give the flexibility and the discretion to the employers and the workers in each establishment to decide on it.

We thank you for your consideration of our proposal and look forward to your support in making the relevant changes to give the flexibility required in working arrangements in terms of our proposal.

Yours faithfully,

R L P Peiris

Director General