Sri Lanka is gradually recovering from the gravest financial crisis ever faced in its post-Independence history. It is heartache to see how trade unionists belonging to one or two minor political parties are trying their best to drag the country backward, especially before the Presidential Election (PE) is held in order to grab votes.
The indefinite strike launched by university non-academic staff went on for the second day on Friday. The strike was launched against slashing their salaries by 15 percent and the failure to increase their monthly allowance. Trade Union (TU) leaders claimed that the activities of all universities have been disrupted due to the strike action and all academic activities and exams have been halted.
Meanwhile, the sick leave campaign launched by Government executive officers of 18 sectors continued on Friday as well. The TU leaders said the TU action was launched last Thursday against the failure to provide solutions to their demands including salary issues. They said requests made to the President’s Secretary for a discussion last Thursday were disregarded. The sick leave campaign was conducted in all 25 districts.
Government executive officers from 18 different fields, including the State engineering service, agriculture, veterinary, science, Ayurvedic medicine, education, administrative, surveying, postal, fisheries and Information Technology, engaged in the TU action.
According to the prominent economist attached to the Management Faculty of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Prof. Janaka Kumarasinghe and several other prominent economists and scholars, the workforce in the private sector propel the Sri Lankan economy forward while the Sri Lankan State sector workers pull it downwards. This is the bitter truth that is not accepted by TUs in the State sector.
Let us recall recent history. After 2015, the salaries of public servants were increased by Rs. 10,000 and thereafter this year, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has already granted them another Rs.10,000 salary increase. Those salaries were increased in large amounts for teachers, health staff etc but those increased salaries went into the hands of a handful from the entire population. The benefits of those salary increases gave benefits only for the public servants and their families and not for the poor ordinary people of this country who actually push the economy forward. They are private sector workers, informal workers, self employed people etc.
A rather paradoxical observation is that according to the latest statistics, 7.3 million workers out of eight (8) million workers are not members of any TU and only 720,000 workers are TU members and TU leaders. Less than 10 factories out of 330 factories in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone have TUs and all the other factories do not have any TUs. Therefore it is surprising that a large number of workers join various strikes and protests. The “secret” is that TU leaders threaten and intimidate ordinary employees to take to the streets.
All TU leaders of all TUs in the public sector in Sri Lanka do not work at all or at least do not come to office and sign because they had been released from all their official duties for years according to the existing rules and regulations. Therefore they just obtain their monthly salaries doing nothing at all. They do not need to come to the office and sign like other employees. They get paid for staying away from the office. Their monthly salaries arrive at their bank accounts on time without any deductions. All they need to do is go to an ATM and withdraw money. The real system change should be aimed at these issues and not regime changes because they dominate the country and not Governments.
The story of most female graduates entering the public sector tells a story. We stand for gender equality in employment, equal pay and for opening the job market further for women, even for those jobs such as train engine operations which are now reserved exclusively for males. Having said that, the following is applicable to a typical Government office. The female graduate gets the job, gets married and becomes pregnant. She stays at home with the full salary for four long months. Then she comes to work and gets two hours per day for one year to feed the baby. Then she obtains the distress loan and all the other benefits available to her. She spends four hours from her eight hour duty everyday to get late to report for duty, lunch, morning and evening tea, make-up, shopping etc and works only for four or five hours. Then she goes on maternity leave for the second and maybe for the third time. There is no point of talking about male public servants because most of them are not in their seats all the time.
Trade unionists snatch the precious lives of children and adults of this country. The wasted time cannot be given back to people. There is no way to pay compensation. The only solution that is visible at this moment to save people from the TU mafia is privatizing most State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) apart from the Armed Forces and the Police. This is what the ordinary people demand from all Governments.
