Union member reinstated; railway strike called off

The Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union again called off their trade union action yesterday after the Railway Department reinstated a senior union member. Earlier in the day the union recommenced the strike over the suspension of their colleague. Train services, which resumed after the union called off thier strike on Thursday midnight, came to a standstill again after the announcement.

The Railway Department said it was contemplating legal action against the unannounced token strike launched by the Station Masters Association. It had caused severe inconvenience to the commuters, the Department said.

Chairman of the union Sumedha Somarathna said that they had launched their strike to address a number of issues that affected the railway system and the safety of the passengers.

“We have asked the government to solve the problems related to the transfers, recruitment and promotion of Station Masters. The Department has also failed to address some serious issues involving signal systems and the rolling stock,” he said.

In recent weeks a number of long distance trains had been cancelled a few hours before their scheduled departure time. By that time seats had been reserved and angry commuters had taken it out on the station masters, Somarathna said.

“The Secretary to the Ministry called us and assured that they would address these concerns. So, we stopped our trade union but if the government does not address these issues soon, we will not hesitate to resume our strike.”