SriLankan employees given duty leave for presidential polls campaigning

Several security officers attached to SriLankan Airlines were given duty leave to participate in election campaign work during the last presidential election in January, 2015, it was revealed at the sittings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PoI) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka today. 

Duty leave was granted in violation of the collective agreement between unions and the management of SriLankan Airlines which only allowed employees to be released for trade union activities, it was further revealed. 

Accordingly, the airline's Human Resources Department had authorised duty leave for seven security officers attached to the airline's Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya (SLNSS), to participate in an "organising campaign" in Pelmadulla in December, 2014. The SLNSS is a trade union affiliated to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The leave was approved based on a request made via email by the then Secretary of the union, it was further revealed.   

Titus Kannangara, Senior Manager, Security Operations at SriLankan Airlines testified that the officers were released after the request came through the HR Division. 

When questioned as to whose campaign the employees would have been released for, Mr Kannangara answered that since the union was affiliated to the SLFP, it would have been for the campaign of those who were in power at the time.    

Giving evidence before the commission last week, Hasantha Kumara Yasarathna, General Secretary of Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya attached to SriLankan Airlines, claimed security officers and vehicles of the airline were used for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s January 2015 presidential election campaign, especially in the Kolonnawa electorate. 

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