News
Pensioners given gratuity option; but TUs threaten to strike
Despite President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s orders to revert to the old system, pensioners are to be given two options to obtain gratuity — through a bank loan or from their respective state institution. The decision to introduce the new system was taken to expedite gratuity payments which were now subject to long delays, Public Administration Ministry Secretary P.B. Abeykoon said.
He said the gratuity loans given by the Bank of Ceylon, the People’s Bank and the National Savings Bank would have the same conditions as the previous gratuity system – such as a payback period of ten years. A Pensions Department official said there were about 18,000 pending gratuity applicants and the Government would need around Rs. 10 billion to pay them. “We are trying to expedite this process but at least 2,000 new applications are added each month to this number,” he said.The introduction of a new gratuity payment system through the banks has run into controversy with several trade unions opposing it.
Trade union leader Saman Ratnapriya said the required amount to pay the gratuity had not been sent by the Treasury. “We are totally opposed to the payment of gratuity through the banks. This is a first step towards tampering with the gratuity payments,” he said. The union leader said that even though President Rajapaksa had called for the scrapping of the new system, it had not been done. Mr. Ratnapriya said if the new system was not scrapped, they would resort to trade union action.