Strike ends, but unions vow to intensify action to win their demands

Many trade unions staged a one-day general strike yesterday, demanding that taxes, tariffs and interest rates be reduced. The organisers of the strike said they would intensify their trade union action unless the government heeded their demands.

More than 40 trade unions, in several sectors, joined the strike, organised by the trade unions of professionals. Many other state and semi-state trade unions also supported the strike.

The Trade Unions Collective, which organised yesterday’s strike, said it had been compelled to resort to strike action as there was no favourable response from the government to its demands.

Due to the strike, services such as health, posts, and railways were affected. Workers in other sectors ,including education, port, power, water supply, petroleum, road development, and banking services, also joined the strike.

Private bus operators and several trade unions announced that they would not join the strike.

Members of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) joined the nationwide strike that started from 8 am yesterday but the Government Medical Officers’ Forum said its members would not join the strike.

Nearly 40,000 nurses also participated in yesterday’s strike.

The Joint Force of Paramedic Professionals said that the strike would become a continuous struggle if the police and the army were deployed crush the strike.

General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Service Association Mahinda Jayasinghe said that teachers and principals unions had struck work yesterday.

The non-academic staff of the universities are on strike today in support of the ongoing strike of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association.

General Secretary of the Port Union Progressive Employees’ Union Shyamal Sumanaratne said that all trade unions of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority had struck work yesterday.

All trade unions of the Ceylon Electricity Board reported sick yesterday. Only power plants and essential services continued to operate as normal, General Secretary of the Ceylon Electricity Workers’ Union Ranjan Jayalal said.

President of the Sri Lanka Air Traffic Controllers Association Thisara Amarananda said that air traffic controllers carried out a work-to-rule protest from 12.00 noon to 02.00 pm in support of the strike.

The Professionals Trade Union Collective announced that they would call off their strike action at 8 am today (16).

The banking sector saw the Ceylon Bank Employee Union (CBEU) and the Central Bank’s Trade Union Alliance are on strike. However, the President’s Media Division said several hundred branches of the Bank of Ceylon and the People’s Bank were operational.