Around 2,000 private sector workers staged a protest in front of Colombo Fort Railway Station on July 25 demanding that the government withdraw its proposed new labour laws and halt pension fund cuts.
The majority of the workers at the protest were from the Katunayake and Biyagama free trade zones (FTZ) located in the Colombo district. Some employees travelled from as far away as Nuwara-Eliya in the Central Hills district. Several hundred employees from Ceylon Electricity Board, Colombo Port, Sri Lanka Telecom and banks also participated.
The new Employment Act formulated by the government will replace 13 existing laws and abolish rights of workers won in decades of past struggle. Under the recent Domestic Debt Restructuring approved by the parliament on July 1, interest rates for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees Trust Fund are to be cut drastically.
Both measures are to satisfy the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout loan of $US3 billion approved in March.
The protest was called by the UNITE trade union alliance. It includes the Inter-Company Employees Union (ICEU) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the FTZGSEU, the Workers Struggle Centre affiliated with the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) and other groups.
The union alliance announced a massive protest in Colombo from all FTZs and other companies throughout the country. The unions called the protest to dissipate the growing anger among workers against the...
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