Govt. taking suicidal risk

Friday 10th February, 2023

The spectre of a protracted labour struggle looms over the country. By staging a joint protest, on Wednesday, warring professionals sent a strong message to the government. They have said in no uncertain terms that they will not give up their struggle until income tax is brought down to an affordable level. The government remains intransigent, having effected some minor changes to the new tax regime. Trade unions have rejected them out of hand, and threatened to resume their protests soon.

The government has, in its wisdom, opted for a game of chicken instead of offering to negotiate with the professionals on the warpath. It seems to think it will be able to railroad the protesters into coughing up unconscionably high taxes if it holds its ground. It is making a big mistake.

The beleaguered government will have absolutely no defence against a continuous general strike, which the country needs like a hole in the head at this juncture. The police and the military are no match for workers engaged in a strike in vital sectors such as health, banking, ports, power and energy. In 1980, the then President J. R. Jayewardene succeeded in crushing a general strike by sacking more than 40,000 workers in one fell swoop. He had a five-sixths majority in Parliament, and the Opposition was extremely weak at the time. The JVP, which was playing political footsie with the Jayewardene government, pulled out of that strike at the eleventh hour, dealing a crippling blow to the strikers’ morale. The situation is different today; the UNP-SLPP government is struggling for survival and fears the public, who will kick it out of power, given half a chance.

The government had better come to terms with reality and stop labouring under the delusion that it will be able to break strikes and quell uprisings simply because it has managed to crush the Galle Face protest and is using police and the armed forces to disperse protests.

If protests erupt across the country simultaneously, the police and the military will spread themselves too thin; they will not be able to disperse protests. The country seems to be moving in that direction with the government bulldozing its way through with no heed for people’s suffering. If the local government polls are postponed, the situation will take a turn for the worse.

Even President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former battle-hardened, frontline combat officer, who functioned as the country’s wartime defence secretary, decided to run away instead of ordering a military crackdown on protesters. It was about the only wise decision he made as the President! His exit kindled people’s hopes, which have given way to despair over the past few months.

At this rate, the day may not be far off when we witness another wave of agitations similar to the Gota-Go-Home campaign. If worse comes to worst, the SLPP leaders will not hesitate to throw anyone to the wolves. Even Mahinda Rajapaksa had to step down as the Prime Minister to safeguard their interests. This is something President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has chosen to go on the offensive, ought to bear in mind.

The government is left with no alternative but to get the protesting trade unions around the table and negotiate a settlement to the tax dispute and defuse tensions, which are likely to ignite a storm of protests. Strongarm tactics are bound to prove counterproductive and plunge the country into chaos, derailing the ongoing economic recovery process.

SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva has proposed an alternative to the newly-crafted tax regime that trade unions are all out to scuttle. He says the government can rake in the projected revenue without squeezing professionals dry. The government should bite the bullet and listen to him and other economists who are willing to help find a solution; their proposals are worth a shot. Coercion, we repeat, will not work.