Uni. non–academics threaten all–out strike

Will begin with token strike on Thursday, Friday

February 20, 2012, 10:36 pm , The Island.

by Dasun Edirisinghe

University non – academic staff, including administrative officers, will stage a 48-hour token strike on Feb. 23 and 24 against the government’s delay to rectify the anomalies in their salaries, as promised earlier.

President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation (IUTUF) R. Chandrapala told The Island last night that if the government does not respond to it, they would go for an all – out strike from Feb. 29.

"We met officers from the National Salaries and Cadre Commission two weeks ago and they promised to give their recommendations within two weeks to the University Grants Commission (UGC)," he said adding that as usual the NSCC had broken the promise.

Chandrapala said that all successive governments, after 2006, had failed to honour the pledges made to non-academics and the problem had worsened now.

"All staff, from registrars to labourers, would join the strike scheduled for Thursday and Friday," he said adding they would show their strength to the government and that universities couldn’t be run without their support.

The trade unionist said that Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake and Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne had promised to rectify their salary anomalies during several meetings recently, but so far they had not honoured their promise.

Chandrapala said that this time they would not give up their agitation and would cripple the universities until their demands were met.