12^th June 2024

Yakalla, Ibbagamuwa

Members of the Sri Lankan workforce that also identify as LGBTIQA+ came together to establish the Abhimana Workers Union earlier this year. This was the culmination of an advocacy process that involved dialogue and discussion with mainstream trade unions, and genuine engagement by everyone involved with the scientific bases for human diversity. The egalitarian pathos of trade unionism is a ready fit for a community that continues to struggle with issues of discrimination and violence, including sexual violence.

At the launch of the website at the Ramada Hotel last week, representatives from LGBTIQA+ community and trade unions came together in a show of solidarity and friendship. Among those present were representatives from the National Union of Seafarers in Sri Lanka [NUSS] which has been instrumental in bringing together the Sri Lankan trade unions to support the establishment of the Abhimana Workers Union.

Palitha Athukorala, President of NUSS in fact spearheaded the efforts in getting the current Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment to sit down with the Abhimana Workers Union in April 2024.

“The new union is facilitated by the National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka (NUSS) and has received a mandate from the Minister to secure representation within the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). 

With a significant number of LGBTIQA+ persons employed in the country’s free trade zones and various industries, the new union will provide a platform for their issues to be heard at the highest level of decision-making. LGBTIQA+ worker’s inclusion and representation in the workforce continue to grow, signaling a progressive step towards equality and acceptance.”

While this progress is encouraging, we need to go beyond being inclusive of human diversity in the workforce. We need to explore who makes up our workforce. We need to explore what constitutes employment. We need to value forms of work that have hitherto been largely ignored, such as domestic labour in-country, and even forms of work that have been traditionally vilified – If Trans sex workers in Sri Lanka, for example, are perceived as part of the labour force, then perhaps they would not suffer unusual and cruel forms of punishment at the hands of law enforcement.

If we are to respond, pragmatically, to the needs of marginalized communities we must respond holistically. The Abhimana Workers Union intends to be a national union comprising of trans and queer workers, this requires trans and queer workers to join, be recognized and valued. This is why discussions with the wider trade union actors is essential.

If the predominant experience of trans and queer workers in Sri Lanka is ignorance-fueled stigma, discrimination and violence, then we need sustained programming to address the ignorance.

Ongoing initiatives by leading corporate entities in Sri Lanka such as MAS Holdings and John Keells Holdings on establishing policy frameworks and building awareness around diversity, inclusion and equity with their workforces need to be upscaled nationally. For example, co-workers must not feel afraid or intimidated if they have to evacuate their bowels and bladders. Neither the Trans worker, transitioning from male to female, nor the biological female worker who has swallowed the trope of the abusive trans-woman-archetype.  Fear stems from ignorance and leads to stigma, then discriminatory practices. Knowledge building is therefore a key facet of Abhimana Workers Union efforts towards an equitable tomorrow for everyone.