Over 3,000 girls, who worked with Tri-Star Apparel Textile Company, have gone to court, seeking permission to sue the government and the company manager for terminating their services unlawfully.

The Uganda Textile, Garment, Leather and Allied Workers Union, a trade union representing workers under the textile sector together with 19 girls, filed an application at Kampala High Court, seeking permission to sue the government and Mr Kanathan Vellupullia on behalf of the girls.

The girls intend to sue the respondents jointly with Apparels Tri-Star (Uganda) and Lap Textiles Ltd who took over from Tri-Star Apparels (U) Ltd. Tri-Star Apparels was established by the government to export garments to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The girls in their application, argue that they have good prospect of succeeding in the case and therefore it would be just for court to grant them the representative order.

The girls accuse the firm of failure to comply with the terms and conditions of employment which later led them to cause a strike to protest the low salaries and poor working conditions. The girls claimed they were forced to share dormitories with men who were being brought in among the new recruits. The strike began when an accounts assistant, Ms Molly Nantisa, was sacked after she leaked information that some 50 girls were going to be sacked.