Friday, October 12, 2012

What a relief!

, The Island

The public must have heaved a huge sigh of relief yesterday on hearing that the university teachers' strike had ended at long last. Universities have remained crippled for over three months and now they could resume academic work. It is hoped that the baton won't be slapped down into the hand of the non-academic staff loaded with blazing feet to do the next lap of the ' university strike relay'.

Why on earth did the government and the Federation of University Teachers' Associations (FUTA) take so long to find a solution? They could have arrived at a settlement within the first few days of the FUTA trade union action without plunging the entire university system into a huge crisis. The government should take the blame for the inordinate protraction of the dispute as it tried to wear down the dons. Had it constructively engaged with the striking teachers and negotiated a settlement without resorting to a vilification campaign and dilatory tactics, universities would have started functioning a long time ago; thousands of students would have been able to finish their final examinations and the GCE A/L answer script evaluation would have commenced a few weeks ago.

While the university teachers were marching from Galle to Colombo and staging other protests, out of desperation, the government kept on telling us that they were a bunch of traitors being manipulated by some western powers to trigger an Arab Spring style political upheaval. Having struck a deal with the strikers, what has Minister of Higher Education S. B. Dissanayake got to say now? Had the real motive of the university dons been to effect a regime change as the government claimed, would they have ever agreed to a negotiated settlement? Come off it, Mr. Minister! The government owes the university teachers an apology.

However, the fact remains that some politicians on the pretext of supporting the FUTA strike rode the university teachers piggyback, dreaming of a regime change. They thought the strike would develop into a fully-blown people power campaign. They must be rather disappointed today. It is time they had a rethink on their strategy to capture power instead of adopting ad hoc measures that are doomed to fail. The government stands accused of corruption, abuse of power, waste, suppression of democratic dissent and many other wrongs. The cost of living is soaring and there are unmistakable signs of public resentment welling up. But, the government is lucky that the Opposition, instead of sorting out its internal problems and presenting a credible, pro-people agenda to tap the pent-up public frustration to fuel its campaign, has opted for political Gangnam Style. President Rajapaksa may not have got his dream Cabinet, as we have argued in these columns previously, but he has certainly got his dream Opposition! (He must be crooning, "You are my sunshine/My only sunshine/You make me happy …") It is not for nothing that cynics have dubbed the Opposition edawela tours––slang for private bus operators whose daily income is barely sufficient for their survival. It lacks initiative and focus and haphazardly champions various causes on a daily basis without a proper strategy to challenge the government, let alone bring it down. What the people expect of the Opposition is not cheap entertainment but to be a viable alternative to the government which is not getting any more popular.

University teachers may not have won all their demands, but that is the way with all trade union battles. Compromises need to be made for consensus to be reached. We hope that the government will honour its promises to FUTA without provoking it into flexing its trade union muscles again.

FUTA suspends university strike

, The Island

by Dasun Edirisinghe

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) said yesterday that its strike had been suspended.

However, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa yesterday told the media the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) had given them an assurance that their strike would be called off immediately in response to Treasury Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera’s letter.

Addressing a fully-packed media conference at his ministry, Minister Rajapaksa said, "Although FUTA members are not attending the joint media conference, they have informed us that their executive committee had decided to call off the strike."

Rajapaksa said that FUTA had informed the government that their membership had not endorsed a joint media conference and a joint media statement.

"However, they asked us whether we could postpone this pre-scheduled media conference," the Minister said.

The minister said that the government had assured the strikers that it would provide what it could according to the proposals submitted by the university teachers. The FUTA representatives had agreed with the government’s assurances, Rajapaksa said.

Answering a query, Rajapaksa said that the government shared the responsibility with university teachers for the protraction of the strike.

He said that the government had not undertaken to allocate 6 per cent of the GDP for education, but assured that it would allocate the highest amount possible for that sector.

"When we allocate a bigger amount to education we might have to reduce funds for other sectors, including my ministry," a smiling Rajapaksa said.

He said that his ministry had received Rs. 107 billion last time, but this time around it had been reduced to Rs. 80 billion.

Rajapaksa warned university teachers that they would have to do extra work to clear the three-month workload as two batches of students were awaiting university entrance.

Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake, Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake, Secretary to the Media Ministry Dr. Charitha Herath, UGC members, several vice chancellors and academics also participated in the media conference.

Meanwhile, FUTA Media Spokesman Dr. Mahim Mendis told The Island that his association had decided to suspend its trade union action. He said the teachers were not satisfied with the salary structure proposed by Treasury Secretary Dr. P. B. Jayasundera. FUTA expected an immediate solution to its salary issue from the next budget to be presented in November, he said.

Dr. Mendis said FUTA’s core demand––allocation of 6 per cent of the GDP for education––had not been properly addressed but FUTA had decided to suspend the strike in the public interest.