Non-academic staff agitation emboldens varsity dons

February 26, 2012, 10:13 pm , The Island.

by Dasun Edirisinghe

In the wake of university non academic staff successfully staging a 48 – hour token strike on Feb. 23 and 24, university teachers again threatened an all out strike from March 15 if the government failed to resolve their grievances shortly.

President of the Federation of University Teachers Associations Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri said that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself had broken the promise to grant their salary increments through the budget 2012.

"We entered the warpath again with the main demand to abolish the proposed private university bill," he said adding that the government had yet to consult them on the proposed bill.

He said finally they staged a token strike on Jan. 18, but the higher education ministry still turned a blind eye to the issue.

Dr. Devasiri, however said that at a meeting held after the token strike Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake promised to consult them on the private university bill and discuss the draft bill.

"Unfortunately Minister Dissanayake too broke the promise," he said.

The senior academic said they resorted to trade union action during first half of the last year by vacating from all volunteer posts they held in protest of the government’s delay to increase their salaries.

The university teachers temporarily suspended their trade union action in June last year on the promise of President Rajapaksa, but with the threat to revive at any time, Dr. Devasiri said.