University non-academic staff launch strike to win anomalies

Some 15,000 non-academic staff members of 15 state universities in Sri Lanka launched an indefinite strike on Tuesday demanding the government to implement conditions reached in the agreement signed in 2016 to provide benefits and other allowances for them.
 Non-academic staff members of Sri Jayawardenapura and Kelaniya Universities struck work paralysing all academic activities, a spokesman of the University Trade Union Joint Federation (UTUJF) said. Other universities were also to join.
The strike happened on the first day of new entrants to the Kelaniya University who had to leave the university with their parents as the academic sessions and administrative functions came to a standstill, a senior professor said, adding that this is the first time in the history of the Kelaniya University that new entrants had been deprived of entering the university on the very first day of their campus life.
Non-academic staff members of Colombo University are expected to join the protest tomorrow after a meeting scheduled to be held this afternoon, a senior academic said. (Bandula)