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Talks fail, railway unions on strike track
View(s):A two-day strike by railway workers gets underway midnight today after talks between the Government and trade unions ended in a stalemate yesterday. Last-minute efforts to avert a 48-hour railway strike from midnight today failed after the Government turned down the trade unions’ request for a written assurance at three hours of talks yesterday between Transport Ministry Additional Secretary Malkanthi Jayawardena and representatives of 11 railway unions.
Ms. Jayawardena said the unions were told that Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga had agreed to meet them on Tuesday but they insisted on a written assurance from the Government that their main demand – rectification of salary anomalies — would be met if the strike was to be called off.
The strike is set to cripple the train services countrywide as unions representing engine drivers, railway guards, engineers and station masters have agreed to join the strike. Railway Professional Trade Union Alliance Convener Janaka Fernando told the Sunday Times the strike would go on unless the Government gave the unions a written assurance.
He said salary anomalies of other state sector employees had been rectified and therefore railway employees should also be granted relief. The unions’ other main demand is that a new salary structure be worked out for railway workers. Engineers Union Secretary I. L. K. Dissanayake said they would not agree if the Government offered an allowance instead of the requested salary step.
“The ministry has not even decided on the amount to be paid as an allowance. We can’t rely on them anymore,” he said. The unions said they had discussed the demands with President’s Secretary Weeratunga but little or nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Railways Additional General Manager Nalaka Bandara, referring to the demands of the unions said that they had to “haggle” with trade union leaders to come for negotiations. “The authorities are trying to solve the issue as soon as possible,” he said.
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