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Postal TUs threaten indefinite strike if demands not resolved
View(s):Postal Trade Unions (PTU) warn they are determined to launch an indefinite strike from midnight on June 26, with assistance from other trade unions, if the Govt does not resolve their demands. They said discussions were already under way with trade unions in the Railways Dept, the Petroleum Corporation and the Ports Authority, for their support for the next trade union action against selling of Govt assets to foreign countries.
The PTU also held a special meeting on Wednesday with the Prime Minister’s Secretary and senior Govt officials to find solutions to the issues. The PTU said their issues were not resolved at the meeting, despite extensive discussions of their demands. The threat of an indefinite strike comes after a 48-hour token strike launched earlier this week, crippled postal services islandwide and left thousands of letters and parcels piled up in post offices.
The token strike was held over three main demands raised by the PTU. These are, to drop plans to turn several old buildings housing post offices into hotels, to provide immediate solutions to problems of postal workers and to establish the main post office in the old General Post Office (GPO) building on Janadipathi Mawatha.
Chinthaka Bandara of the United Postal Trade Union Alliance claimed more than 300,000 letters were piled up at the Central Mail Exchange due to the token strike. However, he noted the postal workers had taken measures to clear all the letters accumulated in the post offices by Thursday evening.
He claimed around 3,400 sub post offices, 640 post offices and 100 operating offices were closed on the two days, while around 21,000 postal workers in 28 trade unions in the postal service, joined their trade union action, disregarding their political affiliations. The strike also severely affected examination services undertaken by post offices. Thursday was the deadline for submitting applications for the GCE Ordinary Level (O/L) exam. The deadline had earlier been extended by the Dept of Exams, particularly for the flood affected students. However, the strike resulted in this process grounding to a halt on the two days it was held.
An official from the Dept of Exams told the Sunday Times, since the strike ended before Thursday’s deadline, another set of students were also able to send their applications. He said some students who wanted to apply for the O/L exam, came to the Dept on Thursday morning to check if their applications had been accepted.
A main issue of contention between the Govt and the PTUare plans to convert buildings housing several post offices into hotels. The PTU claim the Postal Dept currently pays a monthly rent of more than Rs 250,000 for the main post office in Colombo, which can be saved, if it is returned to the GPO building. Mr Bandara accused the Govt of lacking a plan to develop the economy hence, it was selling Govt resources.
Posts Minister M.H.A. Haleem, however, said these post office buildings would be modified and used fruitfully for economic purposes, while protecting and safeguarding their historic value. He added, currently maximum use is not made from these buildings and they can be converted to profit-making projects by converting them into tourist attractions.