CEB unions demand resignation of Power and Energy Minister
By Jayashika Padmasiri
Some 20 trade unions of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) have demanded Power and Energy Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne’s immediate resignation, if he cannot rectify the crisis the CEB and its workers are facing.
JVP-led Lanka Viduli Sevaka Sangamaya’s (LVSS) General Secretary Ranjan Jayalal holding a news conference last morning announced that the trade unions, comprising majority of the workers at the Board, would launch a protest today afternoon in front of the CEB. Their demands would be that the government should increase their salaries and avail them to an annual salary increase instead of once in three years and take action against corrupt officials named in the COPE report.
Jayalal later told The Bottom Line, “If the government cannot take any measures to correct the present administrative problems faced by the workers, and if they cannot give into our demands, we are calling on the Minister in charge to resign from his post.”
Jayalal also alleged that owing to the bad administration, an additional general manager of the CEB, who recently retired from his post, had taken with him a luxury vehicle belonging to the CEB worth Rs. 4.4 million, but the Minister was not taking any action against this for unknown reasons.
The union demands include the addition of an allowance of Rs. 1200 to their salaries, taking necessary action against those named in the COPE report, increase the salaries of all CEB employees annually, instead of the present once in three years scheme, providing all workers five units of electricity per day free of charge and to restore the cost of living allowance paid to the employees, which was suspended earlier.
Jayalal also warned that if the government failed to give them redress soon, they would have no option but to launch a token strike soon.
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