Sri Lanka Railways trade unions, who launched an island wide train strike launched last week, have issued a fresh warning of trade union action if the government failed to meet their demand to resolve salary anomalies by next Tuesday.
The Railway Trade Union Alliance (RTUA) without a warning launched an island wide train strike on last Wednesday (08) severely inconveniencing the commuters. They called off their strike on Sunday (12) after a discussion held with President Maithripala Sirisena.
The Government after the train strike decided to appoint a Special Salaries Commission to make necessary recommendations to increase the salaries of the entire public sector staff, and to remove the salary anomalies in public sector institutions, including the Railways Department.
The salaries commission is expected to conduct an in-depth study on the provisions of the existing circulars dealing with payment of salaries and other allowances paid to public sector employees and make its recommendations to the government within the next two months.
However, the Railway Trade Union Alliance (RTUA) has given time until next Tuesday for the government to come up with a solution to the issue of their salary anomalies.
Leaders of all railway trade unions who have reportedly met yesterday, made the decision to set the deadline considering requests and requirements of the relevant authorities.
The unions’ collective threatened trade union action if the government failed to provide a viable solution within a week.
The railway trade union collective spokesman told Daily News that unions will discuss the issue with President Maithripala Sirisena at 2 pm today.
According to the Railway Trade Union Collective Co-convener Lal Ariyaratne, trade unions expected a decision to be taken at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting to rectify their salary anomalies.
