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Undeterred
Lal Kantha now vows 3-day major strike
By Poornima Ravishan Wijemanne
President, National Trade Union Centre (NTUC),
K.D. Lal Kantha, said that, they would continue their fight
to win the goals they hoped to achieve with the General Strike
on July 10.
“You can lose some battles but, you can still turn those
losses into victories, if you continue to fight – we
shall hold a series of meetings with Trade Unions (TU) belonging
to the Government, Private Sector and the Plantations Sector,
starting July 21, to organise a three-day Strike campaign,”
said Lal Kantha, speaking at a media conference to outline
the next step of the NTUC, following the July 10 Strike.
He said that, the NTUC was also planning to forward a Petition
of 1 million signatures, to the President, urging the Government
to grant the Rs. 5,000 pay rise and concessionary transport
fares to the people.
“Despite saying that the July 10 General Strike was a
failure, the Government knows that, the second response from
the Trade Unions (TU) is going to be stronger than the first.
That’s why they tried to placate us by granting a Rs.
2,000 pay increase. But, we are not going to compromise our
demands. Rs. 5,000 is a reasonable demand. The Government
knows this too, that’s why they can’t just dismiss
our demands, as they usually do…” Lal Kantha said.
He also said that, the NTUC has initiated legal action against
the Government for administering disciplinary measures against
Health sector workers who participated in the July 10 strike.
“Health sector workers, who participated in the strike,
have received letters asking to ‘Show Cause’ for
their absence on July 10. This is meant to intimidate the
people. We are seeking legal action against this; though,
admittedly, all we can do is to get court to decree that,
the Government has no legal right to do what it does. Other
than that, we are already organising protest campaigns,”
said Lal Kantha.
He said that, unlike the July 10 Strike, which – though
participated by many other parties – was mostly organised
by the NTUC itself, this time, the NTUC is going to involve
all the TUs in the organising process.
“Party politics is outside Trade Unionism. This time
we intend uniting the bus service, railways, Bank of Ceylon
workers’ union and also TUs of other political parties.
It is this unity that, the Government fears, and uniting is
exactly what we shall do,” Lal Kantha said.
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