FUTA threatens to step up trade union action, if President fails respond to demands

The Federation of University Teachers' Association (FUTA)  has threatened to step up their trade union action, if president Anura Kumar Dissanayake fails to offer a reasonable answer to their grievances and demands.

The reaction came as University academy staff staged a protest in state universities today over their demands.

FUTA president Prof. Prageeth Weerathunga told Timesonline that it appears no one including the Minister of Education and other officials is interested in a solution to the problems of the academics.

He said it has been nine months and no solutions have been forthcoming.

“It has been over a month that they had asked for a meeting with the president but so far, there has been no response,”. Prof. Weerathunga said.

He said however, they are optimistic that the meeting would be administered as soon as the president returns from overseas.

The union also noted that despite the contribution of the university lecturers in allowing the current administration to the take power, the government has failed to implement the expected education related policy decisions.

FUTA Secretary and Media Spokesman Senior Lecturer Charudhatta Ilangasinghe revealed that while there should be around 12,000 lecturers serving at the universities, only around 5,000 are in employment. He further explained that even at the Peradeniya University alone, nearly 200 lecturers have already decided to resign from service.

Faulting the government for not considering their issues, FUTA called for a one day token strike today (30) suspending all university activities including lectures.

The strike has been summoned on highlight a list of problems. The absence of lectures due to resignation and the failure by the government to replace them, problems and disparities of salary, Betterment in university infrastructure, Insufficient funding for research.

Prof. Weerathunga said "There is a shortage of classrooms, laboratories and canteens. In the midst of this crisis, rather than remedying the issues, the 2025 salary revision has further diminished the salaries of lectures from what they earned before. Currently, the university system has been brought to its knees. However, no remedy has been offered."

By Nidarshani Wickramasinghe