What a relief!
October 11, 2012, 7:00 pm , 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.