News
Charges and countercharges, as power outage probe focuses on sabotage; more unions mull strike
The probe into Friday’s hours-long countrywide power failure will focus on whether it was caused by sabotage, with several Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) engineers being questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department over a previous outage on November 29.
Within hours of Friday’s power outage, CEB General Manager M.R. Ranatunga told the media he suspected sabotage due to CEB engineers deliberately prolonging restoration activities. Asked how he could be certain, he said: “A non-cooperation letter by the CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) was given to me after the outage and it also stated that, in the case of an outage, responsibility lay with the General Manager.”
CEB trade unions carrying out a picketing campaign to protest against the sale of the Kerawalapitiya power plant
He said he had suspicions also because CEB engineers showed a lack of interest in restoring power.
The union, however, rejected his charge. “These claims are false and we deny them,” said Dhammika Wimalaratne, CEBEU Joint Secretary. “We attempted to restore the power as soon
as possible.”
As part of its non-cooperation campaign, the CEBEU withdrew from power restoration activities with effect from 4.15pm on December 1, as part of the second phase of an ongoing work-to-rule campaign. But the union said it suspended trade union action amidst the outage to restore power.
The union has been participating in trade union action since November 25 to push for several demands, including the cancellation of a deal with the US-based New Fortress Energy company on the sale of Yugadanavi power plant shares.
The union calls for a transparent tender process; a halt in the proposed amendments the CEB Act No 17 of 1969 to introduce eight GMs and one Group GM; depoliticisation of the position of CEB GM; and an end to “abrupt” transfers of senior management officials.
With regard to depoliticisation, the proposed restructure of the CEB did not take into consideration seniority and experience when making appointments, said Mr Wimalaratne. “While restructuring is beneficial, it cannot be sudden. Consultation with engineers is crucial, so we can collectively make a decision that is beneficial to all”.
Addressing a news conference on Friday, the trade union leader warned that if their demands were not met, the work-to-rule campaign would be escalated into a general strike similar to the one that happened in 1996.
Meanwhile, the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA) also took trade union action on Wednesday. “We will continue to engage in our work but we will not release data in connection with Covid-19 and other diseases because of the failure to meet our demands,” said Saman Ratnapriya, its President. “This will cause a big problem in sending reports to the World Health Organisation and in making future provisions.”
“As administrators, we don’t expect this kind of activity from trade unions,” said Deputy Director General of Health Services Hemantha Herath.” Compromising on data will reflect badly on them.”
Dr Herath assured that they had been able to mitigate the effects so far.
The union’s demands include an allowance increase from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000; implementation of the ‘Ranukge Committee report’ on promotion, salary and overtime anomalies; reduction of the price of pharmaceuticals along with free COVID-19 masks and facilities for school children.
If these demands were not met, there would be strikes from December
8, Mr Ratnapriya warned, adding that they
would attend to only emergency cases.
Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella acknowledged the unions’ right to make demands and said some of their demands were being studied with a view to fulfilling them.
Meanwhile, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin also warned his union would resume trade union action if the salary hike promised to teachers was not paid next month.
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