UGC says no pay for striking non-academics

July 1, 2012, 10:01 pm ,the island

University Grants Commission chief Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that while endorsing the right of workers to strike, the International Labour Organization (ILO) had decided that they shouldn’t be paid for the days they don’t work.

Prof. Samaranayake told The Island that in line with the ILO directive, university non-academic staff wouldn’t be paid as they didn’t report for work recently.

The official was responding to non-academic staff of the Rajarata and Eastern Universities who alleged that their full salaries weren’t paid last month, though their colleagues at other universities received it in full.

President of the Inter University Trade Union Federation R. M. Chandrapala told The Island that they refrained from working from June 06 to 27 to pressure the government to rectify their salary anomalies.

According to him, the UGC had directed Vice Chancellors to deprive them of 70 per cent of their salary.

Over 2000 potential mosquito breeding grounds found in C’bo

The armed forces and private security services yesterday carried out a dengue eradication programme under which 360 teams inspected 13,356 houses in Colombo. Sources said that over 2,000 of them were identified as potential breeding grounds while cases would be filed against about 60 house owners. Sources said that this was the largest one-day anti-dengue operation conducted in Colombo.