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Teacher union charges Chief Minister of abusing State power
View(s):Ahead of possible Presidential elections teacher unions have accused Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga of abusing power by trying to entice members to join a pro-government union, but the Chief Minister has denied the allegation.
Teacher- Principal Joint Trade Union claims the Chief Minister promised several teachers a brand new motor cycle each if they filled out an application form to join the Sri Lanka Independent Teachers’ Union.
He had misled the teachers at a Sri Lanka Independent Teachers’ Union meeting held recently. For example he had said that each teacher would be granted a motor cycle if each of them filled the teachers’ union application form. The granting of motor cycles was promised to all teachers in the 2015 Budget and if it was promised in the Budget all teachers should be given them,” Ceylon Teachers’ Services Union Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said.
The Union alleged that the Chief Minister was using his official powers to promote the Sri Lanka Independent Teachers’ Union and subsequently lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) last week.
“He used his official powers to summon teachers for a meeting during working hours and teachers who participated in these meetings were given duty leave”, Mr. Jayasinghe said adding that teachers can only be given duty leave in certain exceptional circumstances but they cannot be granted duty leave for union meetings.
In this meeting the minister had also said that these teachers will be given special identity cards that will include the signature of the Chief Minister and by wearing these ICs they will be given special priority. This is a clear violation of Article 12 of the Constitution which states that all persons are equal before the law, implying that no one can be treated in a special manner, Mr. Jayasinghe said.
He added, “Article 14 (1) of the Constitution states that anybody can join a trade union or start one and therefore we do not oppose if someone joins a union but using State powers to manipulate people to join such a union is a clear abuse of state power.”
“We have highlighted these points in our letter to the HRC and hope to receive a favourable response,” he said.
Mr. Ranatunga scoffed at all allegations and said “I don’t understand what they mean by this. This union has created several problems for us in the past as well. For example we had planned a teacher training camp previously and Rs. 100 million was allocated by the Government for it, but the union made attempts to discourage the teachers. We were however able to hold the camp anyway.”
“I do not mix my official work with welfare work,” Mr. Ranatunga added.
“When these welfare activities are provided by us the teachers stop going behind these trade unions and that is a problem for the unions,” Mr. Ranatunga said.
“We appointed two teacher representatives for the Sri Lanka Independent Teachers’ Union, in each school. These teachers were given the responsibility to recruit teachers to the union and to hear their grievances. We issued them with union identity cards (as this was a necessity) and I also told the teachers that they didn’t have to wait in line to meet me. This would save a lot of time and would help a lot of teachers,” he added.
Mr. Ranatunga said, “I can say with assurance that we never promised motor cycles to these teachers. The 2015 Budget has clearly stated that teachers in rural provinces will be given motor cycles. We don’t need to do what the Budget has already promised.”
- Joshua Surendraraj