Govt. in a dilemma to increase private sector wages
Tuesday, 24 March 2015 00:31
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Seeks private sector assistance
By Charumini de Silva
The Government yesterday urged the private sector to come up with a solution where both parties could agree upon productivity measures that will bring stability to the labour force.
Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday said that the Government was now facing a real dilemma as they were unable to deliver the promised salary increments for private sector employees.
He pointed out that it was important to bring in the equation of labour and wages in sustaining a stable labour market
“Currently we have a very serious discrepancy with people who work for the State enjoying pension benefits while private sector workers and many outside the formal private sector, like fishermen, artisans and small-time businessmen, do not.”
The Government has conducted many discussions with all related parties such as employees, industries, labour unions and employer federations to agree upon an appropriate course of action.
“We hope that we will not have to go to Parliament and expect that we will never be forced to legislate over salary increases in the private sector because that is something we just do not want to do,” he added.
Understanding the urgency of the issue, the Government now wants to create a national contributory pension scheme which will include workers not covered by existing retirement benefit plans.
“We need to think about a national pension scheme. There is no way that the Government of Sri Lanka can continue to pay out pensions. Unfunded pensions were a thing of the past. It has to be some sort of funded pension.”
