Trade unions and governance woes

It’s no secret that the JVP-led National People’s Power (NPP) came to power with the support of trade unions belonging to different sectors. Some of these TU leaders today serve in top positions including as ministers, deputy ministers and hold other important Government positions. These unions helped galvanise support for the NPP and helped with its spectacular electoral wins.

Trade unions affiliated to the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Petroleum Corporation, Ports Authority, teachers and nurses’ unions and many others were among those who worked towards achieving their political objectives and now that they are in power, the Government can do little but cave into the demands of these unionists.

Take for example the circular issued by the Western Province Education Zonal Ministry last week prohibiting private tutoring classes for students by school teachers, which was withdrawn within hours after it was issued. 

The rushed decision to withdraw the circular was the handiwork of the Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe who was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Teacher Service Union before entering Parliament. Now that his Government is in power, Jayasinghe can flex his muscles more than before and it’s likely this will not be the last of circulars being issued and withdrawn in the months to come.

There was then the reinstatement of 62 employees of the CEB, who had been dismissed for participating in protests against the restructuring of the CEB during the previous Government. It was done with much fanfare to drive home the point that it’s our Government in power now so we can have our way.

Not satisfied with the reinstatement, the Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance (SJTUA) which is affiliated to the CEB also wants action taken against senior officials who made the decision to remove the employees who were reinstated by this Government. What could follow is a witch hunt against officers who followed directives from the previous minister in charge of the subject.

Trade unions in Sri Lanka for many decades now have been pawns in the hands of different political parties working more to political agendas than to the welfare of workers. They have built powerful bases in crucial Government sector institutions and have held successive Governments to ransom at times and in most instances sabotaged progressive measures to broad base loss making institutions or develop them with the participation of the private sector.

The JVP has been in the vanguard of many of the trade unions since the late 1990s onward after the decline of powerful trade unions like the UNP affiliated Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS) as well as trade unions once affiliated to the old left parties.

With a JVP-led Government in power, most union leaders are now in positions in power and are under pressure to deliver on their promises including stopping the privatisation of loss-making institutions, scrap many of the projects that were to get started with India, etc. 

Already the agreement signed by the previous Government to develop Sri Lanka’s State-owned dairy company Milco and dairy farms with India’s Amul Dairy Company in a Sri Lanka-India joint venture (JV) is in jeopardy. The Government has hinted this project will not go ahead with TUs affiliated to the NPP against it.

Hence the Government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in trying to balance the interests of the TUs with the ongoing programs with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other development projects, particularly those with India.