Eight trade unions of telco giant Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) are threatening to intensify their trade union action to an islandwide strike, if the authorities fail to fulfil their 10 demands including settling of salary anomalies, granting promotions, and increasing transport and food allowances.
The threat came after the authorities sppointeda committee to find redress to anomalies of employees and no action has been taken to settle those grievences during the past four yers under the leadership of SLT chairman KumarasINghe Sirisena ...
Jagath Gurusinghe, a leader of Telecommunication Workers Union, said that members of trade unions have given two weeks notice to management to launch a strike paralyzing work at the SLT head office and several outstation offices including Kandy.
SLT trade unions have been carrying out their struggle for four years against the present management to win the 10 demands and staged protest demonstrations in front of the SLT head office in Colombo and at regional offices. They resorted to a sick note campaigns as well..
But SLT management has so far not responded positively to their demands, said Mr. Gurusinghe.
Unions representing about 7000 non-executive workers at the State telecom giant are demanding a transport and food allowance, discontinuing what they call the ‘secret salary scale of executive grade officers’, bringing 1,600 people hired as outsourced workers into the SLT cadre, and immediately stop all contracts being given to external companies.
Other demands are to devise a system of promotions for SLT workers and to submit a proposal to settle salary anomalies, both within 24 days.
(LI)