Joint TU Alliance backs President

Lakshmi de Silva

Sixty-four Trade Unions comprising the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) yesterday pledged their support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Election.

During the past four years, the President worked very closely with the Trade Unions meeting them every three months to discuss their problems, President's consultant on Trade Unions, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra said at a press conference held at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday.

The JTUA has many other affiliated unions in different workplaces and their support too would be given to President Rajapaksa in the future, he said.

The JTUA also would work in all the districts uniting the workforce while erasing misinformation and giving correct leadership, he noted. During the 2001-2004 UNP Government according to the Regaining Sri Lanka policy program, the UNP sold most of the State property for a song. In 2003, the UNP scrapped the pension scheme of public servants. But President Rajapaksa did not sell any of the State property or a single State institution, Secretary W.H. Piyadasa said.

Ranil Wickremesinghe wanted to prune down the public sector by 25 percent within two years but President Rajapaksa increased the number of the work force from 700,000 to 1,200,000 and had fulfilled 90 percent of his election pledges, he noted.

Though the present Government had not given what the Trade Unions had demanded in full around 90 percent of their demands were fulfilled. Therefore, the working class will support President Rajapaksa at the Presidential Election, senior TU official Leslie Devendra said.

There are around seven million people working in the private sector and laws to protect their rights were to be enacted, he said.