Private sector salary hike not due to Govt.

Private sector trade unions have alleged that the government has not taken any steps to increase the salaries of the private sector employees.

The JVP affiliated Inter Company Employees' Union (ICEU) has charged that the government instead of taking steps to increase the private sector workers' salaries, was staging a cover up by engaging in false propaganda saying that the salaries of employees would be raised by 25%.

JVP Parliamentarian and ICEU Secretary, Wasantha Samarasinghe has told the media that the wage control councils were now holding discussions to raise the current minimum salary of Rs. 5000 by about 15%.

Meanwhile, it was also said that the  government was planning on issuing a Gazette notification stating that the minimum wage of a company employee would be raised to Rs. 5,700 or Rs. 5,750 as decided upon by the wage control councils.

According to Samarasinghe, this salary increase was the result of an agreement between wage control councils and the trade unions, and was in no way a government salary increase and alleged that the government was trying to highlight it as a government initiative by issuing Gazette notifications.

Samarasinghe has further said that the ICEU proposed to raise salaries through the wage control councils only on the condition that the minimum salary should at least be Rs.12,500. Accordingly, the wage control councils of the Colombo Dockyards agreed to bring their minimum wagea up to Rs.12,500. This is only one example to show that these salary increases are not due to a government initiative, Samarasinghe said.

However, the ICEU has demanded that a salary increase should be implemented so that the working masses would be able to cope with the rising cost of living.

By the month of May 2008, the cost of living had reached 6734.7 - the cost of living has increased by 1558.3 points during the past year. The cost of essential consumer items has gone up by more than 100%. "Therefore, we emphasise that the salaries of private sector employees should be raised to a level, required for decent living," he has said.

Samarasinghe has also warned of stern trade union action by the first week of July if an acceptable solution is not presented to the private sector employees by then. He had also said that a poster campaign and a distribution of leaflets would be conducted in this regard and demonstrations would be held at workplaces.

Govt. bent on slashing fertiliser subsidy

The JVP says that any government that had tried to slash the fertiliser subsidy has been voted out of power.

The JVP affiliated All Ceylon Farmers' Federation  has said that the government was trying to  increase the subsidised price of a fertiliser bag from Rs.350 to Rs.1200 as a first step and then totally remove the subsidy.

JVP Parliamentarian and President of the Federation, S.K. Subasinghe has said that the government was preparing to slash the fertiliser subsidy.

"A few days ago several farmer representatives who could be manipulated by the government were called to Temple Trees and their statements were taken justifying the reduction of the fertiliser subsidy and wide publicity was given to it," he said.

Subasinghe alleged that the government has been trying to slash the subsidy for over a year now and that such attempts were prevented due to the intervention of certain farmer communities. "Currently, the government is trying to slash the fertiliser subsidy making use of the fuel crisis," Subasinghe has said.

Subasinghe has also pointed out that while the cost of living has increased by about 40%, the expenditure incurred to produce a good harvest through farming has increased by 50% to 60% and that the price of paddy has only increased by 10%.

According to him, slashing the fertiliser subsidy under such circumstances would be hard on the farmer. Subasinghe also said the ACFF has decided to launch an islandwide protest campaign against the government's attempt to first slash and then withdraw the fertiliser subsidy.

Fuel at concessionary price for ministers

The JVP last week accused the government of providing fuel at a concessionary price to the members of the foreign diplomatic missions and cabinet ministers while the people were left to bear the brunt of the fuel hike.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva addressing a media conference said that a circular had been issued permitting members from the foreign missions to purchase fuel at a concessionary price.

"Accordingly they can obtain a litre of 90 octane petrol for Rs. 130 when the market price is Rs. 157 a litre. Similarly a litre of 95 octane petrol is sold for Rs. 142 when the actual market price is Rs. 170," Silva charged.

He also said that according to information received by the party, cabinet ministers also obtained fuel at these concessionary prices.

He charged that the government ministers were enjoying this benefit when the government has failed to grant a subsidy on kerosene at least to Samurdhi recipients who amount to two million of the population.