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CMC reduces worker cadre, adds two more Deputy Commissioners
View(s):Employees to stage massive protest as Council bypassed their TUs when taking decision
By Aanya Wipulasena
The Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Commissioner and its members have agreed to reduce the CMC cadre -and will come up with a new recruiting system.
Accordingly, a reduction of 3,476 positions from the original cadre of 12,121 positions will be made.
However, CMC Commissioner Badrani Jayawardena said though there were 12,221 positions in the cadre, only 7,026 were filled, leaving the rest vacant.
The new cadre will be 8,745.
“This will indeed enable us to recruit more workers than the number which presently exists,” she said.
She explained that the Council spent two-and-half years to evaluate and revise the cadre system.
CMC workers working on the ‘beautification’ of the city. Pic by Mangala Weerasekera
“We wanted to make an error-free system, so we prepared papers of each worker at the CMC, explaining their positions and their work. It was by following such a process that the new cadre was approved.”
At present, the Sunday Times learns, lower level workers of the CMC are being reduced.
“Why should we follow a method that existed for many years, where a man with a pole, goes on a bicycle to switch off street lights, when we can adopt newer mechanisms? If there is a system that will control switching off and switching on of street lights, then we should adjust to that,” she said, explaining that there are other positions such as the garbage collection unit which is unnecessary, as the department has been outsourced and contracts given to private companies to do such work.
Ms. Badrani stated that Colombo needs new changes and the new cadre system will help provide efficient and effective services which the older one failed to do.
However, while lower level cadres are being shrunk, two new Deputy Commissioner (DMC) posts were introduced, increasing the number of DMC’s to five.
The Commissioner said that, as the previous one was unbalanced, new posts were needed to facilitate proper running of the department.
“Under the DMC’s were 19 other divisions. It was not easy to handle all, thus we introduced two more positions which are Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Deputy Commissioner of Health, to build a more balanced one,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Titus Perera told the Sunday Times that, as the Council, the trade unions and the workers weren’t content with the previously drafted cadre system, Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil initiated a new committee to look into the issue and evaluate a new cadre.
“In the previous one, there was a decrease of 3,000 positions, and we requested to reduce it to 1,000, so that the workers won’t lose their place,” he said.
However, the CMC trade unions are not happy with the new cadre system. CMC Federation of Trade Unions Convener Kahadagama Mahindarathna stated that the individual heads of the CMC have arrived at a conclusion without acknowledging the trade unions.
“There are 35 trade unions attached to the CMC, and not once did the Council heads call all of them together to discuss the new adjustment, and now we have decided to protest again, as they have taken a decision to transfer the whole administrative service beyond regular procedures,” he said.
He added that the trade unions are to stage another massive protest against these proceedings, as the common worker is affected by the abrupt decisions taken by those that head the Council.
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