Asian Tribune: Sri Lankan unions betray university workers’ struggle
World Socialist Web Site
The Sri Lankan trade unions have carried out another miserable betrayal.
On June 8, just days before a proposed indefinite island-wide strike, the Inter University Trade Union Joint Committee (IUTUJC) called off all industrial action in defence of employees at the University of Colombo who had been disciplined over protest actions. The decision sets a dangerous precedent for the victimization of other sections of workers seeking to defend jobs, conditions and basic rights.
The workers were among tens of thousands of non-academic university staff from the country’s 15 universities who launched an indefinite strike on April 27 to demand the rectification of salary anomalies as well as payment of a promised salary increase and monthly compensation allowance (MCA). The IUTUJC unions shut down the strike on May 7 in return for part payment of the MCA.
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