Uni. Non-academics to decide future action today

September 20, 2011, 9:25 pm The Island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

University non-academics, including administrative officers, will gather in Colombo today (21) to decide their future course of trade union action against the government’s delay to rectify the anomalies in their salaries.

They performed a sick note campaign in universities island wide on September 12 and threatened a token strike within 14 days demanding the government take urgent steps to resolve the problem.

President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation (IUTUF), R. M. Chandrapala told The Island yesterday they would meet today at the Sri Jayewardenepura University to decide on future trade union action.

"We will discuss the problem with the National Salaries and Cadre Commission on September 29," he said adding they want the government’s direct involvement to solve the problem.

Ratnayake said that the government was playing for time with their problem and there was no genuine effort to remedy the situation.

He said that they held a demonstration opposite the University Grants Commission (UGC) on August 03, but the government did not respond to it.

The problem arose in 2006 and all successive governments and higher education ministers promised to solve it when they faced trade union action, Rathnayake said, adding that this time they wouldn’t allow the government to cheat them.

Reminding the government that the universities cannot run without their services, the union leaders said that their sick note campaign on September 12 proved once again how effective their protest was.