Exporters are also hoping their ethical manufacturing practices will get them noticed in a bill before U.S. Congress to grant trade preferences to least developed countries (LDCs).
Sri Lanka has moved up from LDC status and is considered a middle income country.
"We are quite rigorously trying to get in to this bill,” says Ajith Dias, chairman of the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF), an industry grouping of garment, textile and accessory makers.
"It's essentially a political decision. There are certain issues they have which have to be addressed," he says without mentioning the words 'human rights'.
Human Rights
Ajith Dias led an industry delegation to the U.S a few months ago to meet legislators seeking amendments to the LDCs’ targeting “New partnership for development act of 2007” which is before congress.
The team was canvassing benefits for “vulnerable states and ones with ethical manufacturing practices.”
"Unfortunately, concern in the U.S. about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka has eclipsed attention afforded to the 'garments without guilt campaign,'" Robert O. Blake, the U.S ambassador in Sri Lanka told a gathering of apparel industrialists.
He was referring to an industry initiative to highlight the absence of child labour, forced labour, sweatshop conditions and discrimination in the industry.
"Given your industry’s influence and the stake that you have [in the economy], I encourage the apparel exporters association and its members to help find a positive resolution to these human rights concerns."
The ambassador, who has been in Sri Lanka for just over a year, was addressing the annual general meeting of the Apparel Exporters Association.
Exporters are eyeing duty free and quota free access for Sri Lankan apparel to the U.S. market by convincing legislators in Washington to amend the bill.
"Basically the bill that has been presented is for quota and duty free access for LDC’s. Amendments are permitted and we are trying to see if we can get a special amendment, for vulnerable economies, which we are, and tie that in to ethical trading," says Dias who is also a large shareholder of apparel maker Brandix Lanka.
Lawmakers in the U.S, unlike in Sri Lanka, don't vote on a political party line but examine each bill on its merits.
Even with heavy lobbying it's difficult to separate a trade bill that will benefit the Sri Lankan economy from its dismal human rights record.
Apparel makers claim nearly a million people depend on the industry for a living.
Time Critical
The proposed law, also called the McDermott Bill, is promoted by Washington state Democratic senator Jim McDermott who, according to the apparel trade, is sympathetic towards Sri Lanka's case.
U.S Trade Department is also broadly supportive of amendments canvassed by Sri Lanka but the State Department, which sets foreign policy, has highlighted concerns about the deteriorating rights situation in the island which is fighting the Tamil Tigers who are demanding a separate state.
Apparel sector umbrella association JAAF has also engaged services of lobbyists, Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, to present case of countries like Sri Lanka that are highly dependent on exports to the U.S for inclusion in the bill.
Apparel sent to the U.S are charged on average 14 percent import duty which has resulted in flat export growth to Sri Lanka's top export market.
On the other hand exports to the EU are up 20 percent this year because of the duty free access granted under the GSP plus scheme that rewards countries with good labour practices.
"About March, when [US Presidential] elections come, everything will go in to limbo so what has to be done, has to be done, in the next six months at the very latest," says Dias.
"We are working hard to get something before the election.”
Without Guilt
Rich countries that hold significant trading clout are increasingly using megaphone diplomacy when dealing with small trading partners with questionable or deteriorating rights records.
If enough lawmakers take notice, Sri Lanka's chances of influencing amendments to the bill could flounder.
While the government's indifference could hurt exports in the medium term the apparel industry's proactive approach is winning admiration.
"JAAF had a successful visit to the U.S earlier this year and I have heard from several sources that the team impressed several members of congress and many others," says the outspoken ambassador Blake, who contends there is no military solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.
"Garments without guilt is critical to help industry and consumers differentiate between ethically produced items and those that may have been produced in sweatshop conditions by companies and governments who do not respect the rights of workers."
Research has shown that 35 percent of American consumers care about the conditions in which the clothes they buy have been produced.
"A while back we got a consultancy to visit buyers in the U.S to find out why they purchase from Sri Lanka. They all said that they have never had ethical problems in buying garments from Sri Lanka," says Dias referring to how the idea for the “Garments without Guilt” campaign was born.
"This surprised us because other than for quality we didn’t realize at that time we had something of value."
JAAF has engaged Swiss certification body SGS to complete auditing the first 100 factories meeting the “garments without guilt” standard by mid next year.
“If you certify 120 factories you are pretty much covering around 80 to 90 percent of exports,” according to Dias who says it might not be possible to certify some of the smallest of the 350 or so manufacturing facilities in the island.
“One of the problems we have here is that costs have risen sharply to the extent that we are not any longer the most competitive in the region as we were some years ago. So we had to find some advantages.”
While the industry’s own initiative 'Garments without Guilt' is changing perceptions, that itself might not be enough to get the preferential access Sri Lanka needs to boost exports to the U.S.
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