Immigration Officers’ on work to rule union action

By Charumini de Silva

Ending the silent campaign of six months, Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Officers’ Association (SLIEOA) yesterday launched a work-to-rule campaign at all the airports and ports of the country until authorities provide acceptable solutions for the three demands of the association.

The stern union action came after lobbying several times from 30 December 2017, where the Government failed to provide solutions to make immigration service more effective. 

The three demands of the association were to establish and make effective the service minute of Sri Lanka Immigration and Emigration Service, attach immigration officers to foreign missions and to re-establish the Departmental Prosecution Unit.

“We, as responsible public servants, have taken all possible measures at our level best to get these issues resolved internally and at departmental level without causing any inconvenience to the general public. However, the continuous negligence of authorities towards these matters has forced us to believe in a union action,” SLIEOA President Aruna Kanugala said.

Having failed to find resolutions silently through discussions to improve the immigration services for over 20 years, he said that they finally brought it to the attention of President Maithripala Sirisena, but no acceptable solutions were provided.

Kanugala said the immigration officers, who are engaged in a premier State defence service are performing a vital job in formalising and managing departures and arrivals while directly contributing to earn billions to net foreign income annually.  “Unlike other Government services, the immigration officers are not entitled to vacate in public holidays and have restless working sessions for 16- or 24-hour shifts at airports and harbours without being paid any overtime payment or other additional payments,” he pointed out.

It was noted that the majority of the officers who join the department have no career promotions until their retirement, yet each Government is recruiting more and more officers without providing solutions to their grievances.  

According to him, out of the 394 total positions in the departments there are only 10 vacancies that could provide promotions, while two of the positions have not been filled since 2009.