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UNP call for public sector pay hike an election gundu: Govt.
An adjournment motion moved by the United National Party (UNP) demanding that public sector employees be given a minimum pay hike of Rs 10,000 did not go down well with Government members when the matter was debated in the House last Wednesday.
Government members saw the introduction of the motion, just days away when public servants cast their postal votes in the forthcoming elections to three provincial councils, as an opportunistic move to win over voters. Not so, argued UNP MPs. They were moved by the plight of State sector workers who they said were reeling under the cost of living, as they have not been given a substantial pay hike in years.
Chief Opposition Whip MP John Amaratunga who introduced the motion said the main problem faced by the public servants is the high cost of living. Instead of expanding the public service to meet the requirement of the politicians, what needs to be done is to give them a substantial pay hike, he said.
The motion was seconded by UNP Moneragala District MP Ranjith Maddumabandara who said that, the last time the basic salary of a public servant was increased was in 2006. In the seven years since, they have received a salary hike of only Rs 6,600.
“According to the survey reports of the Department of Census and Statistics, the average monthly expense of a family of four is around Rs 44,000. However, the average salary drawn by a public servant at present, inclusive of all allowances, is around Rs 23,000,” the UNP MP said.
However, the problem for the UNP was that, given its track record in dealing with public servants, there were plenty of Government MPs waiting to remind them of their past policies. Senior Minister Athauda Seneviratne was one Government member in particular who was keen to remind the UNP MPs of how the party dealt with public servants when they were in power. “The UNP sacked hundreds of public servants. You took revenge from those who supported the SLFP, and now you are shedding crocodile tears for them,” he charged.
Another senior minister Dr Sarath Amunugama too spoke of the crocodile tears being shed by the UNP MPs as an election approaches. “It was the UNP that wanted to remove hundreds of public servants from their jobs and stop the pensions being paid to them. These were the policies adopted when the UNP was in power, but they were rejected outright by the people,” he said.
DNA MP Anura Dissanayaka participating in the debate, accused the Government of politicising almost all the government institutions, especially statutory bodies, by recruiting their henchmen to various posts within these institutions. “It is members of the SLFP trade unions who are being recruited to various positions in the State sector. Some posts are specially created for them.” he said.
He said there was no point in expanding the public sector, if it was to give jobs to political stooges.
Public Administration Minister John Seneviratna who wound up the debate, said that the Government would give a salary hike to public servant when it is financially viable to do so. He said the Government has already recruited hundreds of trainee graduates into the State sector, and they could be confirmed in their jobs after they complete a year as trainees.
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