Geethani's Story

Worker No. 689 tells her story

My name is Geethani Peries from Sri Lanka and I am 28 years old. I come from a Catholic family from a fishing village called “Negombo”. I’m the oldest in the family with 2 younger sisters. My father works as a tinker (repairing vehicles) in the informal sector. My mother is a housewife. My father suffered from health problems when I was 8 years old, which caused my mother a real shock and some psychological problems. We had to struggle a lot to face the situation. I managed to pass my Advanced Level exam and planned to find work to support my family. In Sri Lanka, it is very easy for girls to find a job in the garment sector because there is no need for qualifications. But most girls do not want to work there because society sees those factory workers as unqualified girls who are not good to marry. Those who work in the factory are not willing to say where they are working. Despite my studies, I was unable to find a job, and my family and financial situation forced me to work in the garment factory.

For them I was number 689

So I started working as a quality controller. There were 600 workers in our factory producing garments for European countries. 99% were girls aged 18 to 28. I would start work at around 7:30 a.m. and would normally finish at 10 p.m. but it varied every day. I had to stand all day to check the quality of the products. I could take a 10-minute tea break at 10 a.m. and a 30-minute lunch break at 1 p.m.

We were not allowed to speak inside the factory. We had a card. They numbered us. For them I was number 689. Every day they would give us a target and every hour they would check on us to see whether we would reach our target. At the end of the day, if we had not reached the target, we had to work overtime without getting paid. We could not go to the toilet every time we needed to. They introduced a so-called “Choo card” and we could only go to the toilet twice a day. If we asked to go more than twice, we would get a warning from the management the following day. Because of that girls did not want to drink water and had their lunch just in 10 minutes.

My legs were swollen because I was standing all day. My nose was filled with very dark dust. I realised that I was losing weight and I felt so tired. My basic salary was around 2,000 Sri Lankan rupees per month (US$ 18). My overtime hours were not paid. There were no official records saying that we were working. We just received our salary in hands. There were no salary slips.

They asked me to talk but I didn’t dare

In those days there was a YCW group in my village. One leader started to follow me. Every evening he would try to meet me and invite me to the YCW. I was not interested at all and tried to avoid him. He kept asking me so many questions about my work, my conditions and my family. He followed me for around 3 months and he had become a headache for me. So one day I said, “Ok, I will come.” I went to their base group meeting. Many of our village young people were there but I had never talked with them before. I sat in a corner on the floor. They welcomed me. Each one introduced themselves in a friendly way. They asked me to talk too but I didn’t dare. I just stared at the floor, drawing lines with my finger. They encouraged me to speak. I remember, I just said my name. But I listened to the others sharing about their week actions, their experiences. It really touched me. Fishermen, unemployed, informal young workers, who could not even read or write, shared their experiences in front of everyone. It made me think and I decided to continue.

The YCW made a leader out of me After that first experience, I attended the base group meeting every week. The leaders and members asked me many questions. I was shivering; first I couldn’t speak in front of people but little by little I improved, sharing my experience at the factory. I realised there was discrimination in the factory; our rights as workers were violated. We discussed our role in this situation. I began to speak more, to take some personal action, and to make efforts to change my situation in the factory and myself.

At a YCW training program in my village, my base group asked me to give a speech about the YCW history. I felt panicky but I took it as a challenge. I collected all the information from the leaders, I read books and for days and days I practised my speech in front of a mirror. When the day came, I was nervous, my legs were shaking. After my speech there was a positive evaluation meeting. Everyone encouraged me, that made me feel good and motivated to go on. I got different responsibilities in the team and this developed my capacity as a leader. Fabric dust everywhere… In my base group I shared about the problem of the fabric dust everywhere in the factory. It was difficult to breathe and I had dark dust in my nose every day. We discussed about the consequences, the rights we had… As a result of the discussion, my action was to speak with my supervisor and my colleagues in the factory.

I told my colleagues about the fabric dust, how these things affect our health, but they laughed at me, saying we could not wear masks. Then I asked my supervisor. She also laughed at me. She told me to go back to work. I shared this situation with the YCW base group. As a second step, I covered my nose with a handkerchief. Everyone laughed and made jokes; I felt really embarrassed. I told my base group, “I cannot continue this action.” But the group encouraged me to continue, saying that at least it would protect my health. So I did continue amidst 600 workers. After a few days, some friends asked me why I was wearing the handkerchief. It gave me an opportunity to speak about this and after 1 or 2 weeks, some workers started wearing a handkerchief too. Their number was increasing day after day. I talked with these girls informally and asked the supervisor again. She discussed with the Human Resource Manager and they provided us with a mask. It took 2 to 3 months but this action was a real success.

We had been working 18 hours and were tired

In my factory, they didn’t inform us in advance about night work. They would close the main door and force the girls to work at night. Under the law, a factory has to inform workers about the need to work at night and workers can refuse. But my factory forced us to work, mostly when they had to meet a deadline for shipment. The law requires that they provide food at night and allow workers to sleep at least 2 hours.

One day they suddenly said all workers had to do the night shift. We had already been working 18 hours and were tired. But they threatened us and closed the main door. We had no choice. So we started working but after some time we were really hungry. The factory didn’t provide any food. We asked for our dinner at around 10 p.m. It is not easy to find food for 600 workers at 10 p.m. I felt really angry. I wrote a note on a slip of paper mentioning we should stop work until they provided us with food. We passed the note down our line and then to another line. We stopped work and went outside. We were threatened but we refused to go back to work. They finally served us a snack at around 11.30 p.m.

Those are some of the actions I took in my factory. They changed my situation and that of my co-workers. They gave me courage, developed my capacities and taught me a lot. My challenges as a woman leader As a woman living in a fishing village, it is not easy to do community work and work with boys. When I started in the YCW base group, my family and relations were really angry with me. In the village, if you are girl, you should be with female friends, not boys. I had a lot of problems because many of my YCW friends were boys. And girls are not supposed to go out after 6.00 p.m. but I had to attend base group meetings at 10 or 11.00 p.m., after work.

It was a big struggle for me. Sometimes I got beaten by my father because many people in the village complained to him about my meeting with boys at night. My parents were worried about my future because when there is this kind of gossip about girls, nobody wants to marry them. Many Sri Lankan boys like to marry girls who are always at home, who can cook, do housework, who are very quiet.

My father sometimes closed our door when I had a meeting. I tried to explain and I invited my YCW friends to my home to have our meeting there. Then my parents understood what we were doing. They started to support my YCW work. It wasn’t easy to change the mentality in the village but I continued my work as usual and people finally got tired of gossiping.

In the YCW base group also, there were many boys. They didn’t allow their sisters to join the YCW. I started to question this. We discussed about this, challenging all the boys about their attitudes and their respect for factory girls. Those discussions led to personal and collective actions regarding women’s participation.

I want all factory girls to fight for their rights

My first action was with young women workers in a free trade zone factory. I believe we have the right to be respected like all other women in society. In the past, I too was afraid to say, “I’m a factory worker.” But today I’m confident thanks to the YCW. I want all factory girls to feel confident, to fight for their rights, to challenge people who condemn us, to let the society know that we contribute to a major part of the Sri Lankan export economy.

We need to make society understand that we are not sex objects. We are just like the other women in society who condemn us, mothers, wives, sisters, girlfriends. We need to stand up for our rights, to change the mentality in Sri Lankan society about women.

My path to the international level

I started with a base group, and through my experiences of action in the YCW I developed my leadership skills. It brought me to the national level where I was the national president for a short period. It also challenged me a lot as a woman. I had to struggle with many men in society. All these experiences and struggles taught me a lot of things in my life.

Then I was selected to participate in the 2000 International Council in Belgium. At the time I couldn’t even speak English. Everyone knew me as the shy Sri Lankan traditional woman. That was my first international experience in the YCW. It was a real challenge to me. This meeting motivated me to learn English. The YCW collaborators supported me. With my broken English I communicated with regional and international colleagues. It helped me to know more about the International YCW and its actions. I had the opportunity to participate in different international forums in the YCW and other networking organisations.

At the 2004 International council I was elected regional coordinator for ASPAC. So I am continuing my mandate with lots of experiences in the movement.

My vision for the women’s campaign

There are many young women facing the same reality as mine all over the world. Women need to gain confidence in society to fight for their rights, to break the myths and norms that put women down. I believe that “action” is the only solution to change the society. Women have to take the leadership at all levels.