Railway token strike a flop

Rasika Somarathna and Irangika Range

COLOMBO: The 24 hour railway token strike from Sunday midnight to Monday midnight, called by several Railway Employee Trade Unions proved a total flop as train services continued their usual schedule uninterrupted the whole day yesterday.

Contrary to early speculation based on Union leaders’ predictions where they claimed that about 90 per cent of train services would be disrupted, the main control room in Colombo said not a single train was delayed or disrupted from their normal morning schedule during rush hour.

“The token strike was unsuccessful. Trains operated on the normal schedule throughout the day,” Transport Minister Dallus Alahapperuma said. The main control room added that from around 295 trains which engage in daily schedules, only three had been taken off due to technical difficulties which they described as the normal trend on any given day.

Minister Alahapperuma stressed that he is deeply committed to extend his fullest support to resolve the grievances of employees. “There was no need for calling this token strike as we had considered their grievances as reasonable issues. Urgent steps have already been taken by the Ministry to address problems on salary anomalies, allowances and promotions.”

“We have already fulfilled our duty by directing this issue to the Salaries and Carder Commission for a solution. Though this issue has dragged on for some time, we never hesitated to intervene. As a responsible Government, we will further intervene to solve the problems of employees as they have already demonstrated their trust in us today.”

Earlier, several trade union leaders predicted that around 10,000 employees would join the 24 hour token strike crippling train services islandwide.

A joint Trade Union Committee cited anomalies in salary, allowances, promotions etc. as the main cause for their 24 hour token strike and urged authorities to take immediate steps to resolve relevant issues.

Ministry sources said the failure of Union leaders to convince its rank and file to join the token strike had amply demonstrated the trust the employees had placed on the Minister to resolve their grievances.

Meanwhile, several Trade Unions said yesterday that a large number of workers had not reported to work heeding their call and it was the duty of authorities to take proper action with regards to their demands.

They added that if measures were not initiated in the near future, they would carry forward their agitation campaign in a much broader manner.

Despite these claims, authorities said that the token strike did not make any impact on the usual train schedules.