Trains to come to a standstill today
Train services are expected to be disrupted today as about 10,000 railway employees launch a token strike from 12.00 midnight yesterday over a salary and allowance issue.
All Ceylon Railway Employees General Union (ACREGU) that represents 12 trade unions said in a statement yesterday that the authorities have failed to address their salary and allowances issues for two years despite many pleas, discussions and threats of trade union action.
ACREGU General Secretary Sumathipala Manawadu putting the blame on the Salaries and Cadres Commission and the railway authorities said they had failed to eliminate salary anomalies of railway employees despite the relevant circular of 6/2006
More than 3000 employees who had applied for distress loans had not been paid for years. Only 35% of the incentive payments are made. Recruitments had been stopped despite 3,200 vacancies existing in the railway service, Manawadu said.
General Secretary Railway Technologist’s Union M.A.Ratnasiri said all discussions held with the Commission had ended in failure.
“We resort to trade union action as the last resort. We have no alternative after all talks with the Commission and the Railway Department brought no positive result. If the Commission and railway authorities continue to ignore our grievances we will take strict trade union action in the future,” Ratnasiri said.
Meanwhile, GMR Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said the Department did not have an ‘Emergency Plan’ for the strike today.
“I do not know what was going on. The strike will be a success and train services will be crippled. I do not have a plan to face the situation,” he told the Daily Mirror.
Source: Dailymirror
