Sri Lanka's private sector trade union to fight for issues faced by workers

Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) affiliated private sector trade union association, Inter Company Employees Union (ICEU), is to launch a campaign to call on authorities to address issues faced by the private sector employees in the country.

As a first step, ICEU Head Wasantha Samarasinghe said the union would launch a leaflet distribution campaign tomorrow (18). He said the campaign would be launched in Ratmalana and will be carried out outside all workplaces.

Samarasinghe told ColomboPage that the private sector employees are faced with many difficulties.

"The salaries of the private sector workers have not increased although the cost of living has increased by over Rs. 2,000 between September 2009 and September this year," he said, adding that in this scenario, the government continued to increase taxes that burdened the people to meet the targets set out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He added that the government's failure to gazette the value of each cost of living index point has resulted in many private sector employees not making a cost of living allowance to their employees.

Samarasinghe further noted that the government was also trying to misuse the funds belonging to the private sector workers.

"The government is trying to amend the EPF Act jeopardizing the monies that belong to the working masses. They are trying to get the support of the private sector employees by saying the amendments are aimed at bringing about a pension for private sector employees. However, the government has failed to clearly explain about this pension," he said.

Samarasinghe said the ICEU would protest to safeguard the rights of the private sector employees.