SUNDAY, 07 AUGUST 2011 09:36 0 COMMENTS
History has proved that people’s power is more important than the number of heads in Parliament for the working people in winning their rights as well as defending them says the President of National Trade Union Center (NTUC) K.D. Lal Kanthe.

Speaking at the 6th Annual Convention of the State Engineering Corporation Employees’ Union Mr. Lal Kanthe said, “Mahinda Rajapakse regime has a 2/3rd majority in the Parliament. However, despite this majority, the government could not present or passed in Parliament the private sector pension scheme that was approved by the cabinet. The employees in the private sector including those in the Katunayake FTZ were able to defeat this arbitrary attempt to burden workers with a pension scheme the workers did not want. There are many more such experiences in history. There aren’t many instances where workers have won their rights through the Parliament.”

Speaking on the crisis the working people are confronted at present and the struggle his union is carrying out against it Mr. Lal Kanthe said, “Today the trade union movement has commenced a struggle to win a Rs.10,000 salary increase. There could be a mix up in numbers. We earlier demanded a salary increase of Rs.5000. Next we agitated for Rs.8000. While this struggle was going on we dropped the demand for Rs.8000 and asked for Rs.9000. Now we are demanding Rs.10,000. When we look at these numbers it shows that the cost of living is rising rapidly. This is why the working people have to ask for a salary increase of Rs.10,000 today. When Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse came to power the monthly expenses of a family of four was Rs.25,344. According to the Department of Census and Statistics this number has risen to Rs.42,224 by 30th June. This indicates under this government the COL has gone up by Rs.16,880. The struggles carried out by our trade union movement since 2006 has been able to win only Rs.6436.50. This means an increase of Rs.10,443 more is needed to remove the deficit, which means this amount is necessary to lead at least lives we led in the year 2006.

Recently, working people were able to win several struggles. The defeat of the attempt to introduce a pension scheme for private sector employees without their consent was one such important struggle. The struggle carried out by university teachers ended in victory by winning their demand for increased salaries. First the government said such a salary increase could not be granted. However, the government had to give in to the demand of university teachers when they took to the streets, went on protest walks and agitated. The university teachers got a boost for their struggle from the victory the private sector employees gained in their struggle against the pension scheme. When a struggle is won it becomes a stimulus to win other struggles. Hence, it is certain that we will win the struggle for a salary increase of Rs.10,000.”