University lecturers to hold token strike

Monday, 2 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The trade union of Sri Lanka university lecturers, Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) is determining to take planned trade union action on Tuesday. The association has warned that it will stage a token strike on 3 June to demand the implementation of the proposals agreed between the FUTA and the Government.

Chairman of FUTA Chandraguptha Thenuwara confirmed to the local media that Tuesday’s token strike will go ahead as planned since the authorities failed to provide a permanent solution despite discussions. The FUTA has written to Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. S. J. Navaratne calling on the authorities to rectify the salary anomalies of academics as promised in the 2012 agreement. If the demands are not met the FUTA said it is considering returning to a continuous trade union action. Among its demands, the FUTA asks the Government to resolve the issue of salary increase for academics, increase allocation for education, establish a presidential commission to look into education reforms and appoint a high level committee to establish a special category for university academics. The proposed commission was agreed to at the discussions FUTA held with Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake and Minister Basil Rajapaksa before the trade union action was called off by the university lecturers in October 2012. General Secretary of FUTA, Prof. Rohan Fernando said the government has still not appointed the special commission to investigate matters regarding state universities. However, Deputy Higher Education Minister Nandimithra Ekanayake has told media that measures have been taken to provide the research allowance to university lecturers. (Colombopage)