Meet Demands By Nov. 20: CEB Unions

By Nirmala Kannangara

The 16 trade unions affiliated to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) vows to stage another continuous trade union action in the event their five demands are not met by November 20, Co-Secretary, Joint Technical Front, S. A. Ananda said.
According to Ananda, the four-member committee headed by the Commissioner General of Labour, Pearl Weerasinghe has assured them that the committee would look into their five demands and added that the trade unions had faith on the committee Chairman.
“We have seen as to how the CEB management refused to listen to our grievances over the months. When all the CEB employees were given a 25% salary hike on January 25, we were taken aback when the management got the executive staff salary increased by a further 36%- 60% deepening the salary anomaly issue further. When we protested over this, a committee was appointed to solve the matter within four months but nothing happened. These were the incidents that made us to go for a lightning token strike on July 6. We now have kept faith on Weerasinghe and hope to receive a avourable response on or before November 20,”  he said.  However Media Secretary of the Power and Energy Ministry Dhanushka Ramanayake said that the trade unions had agreed to stay away from any union action until the four-member committee appraised the five demands and give a solution that would please both the employer and employee.