News
University and school teachers on warpath
View(s):The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) will resort to continuous trade union action if the Higher Education Ministry fails to present solutions before July 10 to the issues raised by the association.
The token strike by FUTA. Pic by Mangala Weerasekera
“The executive committee meeting held on Friday decided that university teachers will go on continuous strike if the ministry fails to give us acceptable solutions,” FUTA General Secretary Prof. Rohan Fernando told the Sunday Times.
FUTA staged a token strike last Tuesday demanding the ministry act on the promises made during the negotiations and which were instrumental in the association’s abandoning its 100-day-long strike in October 2012.
However FUTA claims that none of the proposals which were agreed upon in 2012 have materialised yet. FUTA held several rounds of discussions with the ministry before resorting to token trade union action last Tuesday.
Among its demands FUTA has asked for a presidential commission to be established to look into matters affecting the university system and establishment of a separate academic service as promised by Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake. Further FUTA has also demanded that the suppression of student unions and groups be immediately stopped.
Condemning the most recent attack on the Ruhuna University students FUTA stated that university autonomy has to be re-established immediately. One of the demands made by FUTA is to re-establish the autonomy of the universities.
Meanwhile school teachers are also gearing up for a nation-wide strike. The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) has informed the Education Ministry that if no solution is provided to their demands of salary increments and the establishment of the Teacher Service by July 10, the teachers will refrain from marking Advanced Level Examination papers in August.
“We have had talks with the Mahinda Madihewa Committee which was appointed to find solutions to the issues raised by us,”CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said. Members of the Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union (CTSU) are also planning trade union action against the proposed changes to the gratuity payment system on retirement. On July 4 teachers in the Colombo District will carry out a sick-leave campaign to record their protest against the proposed changes.
“We have a number of other unions who have also joined us in the campaign and we have already started by displaying a banner protesting against the proposed changes. We will carry out the sick leave campaign next month too,” CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said.