If strike continues:
CEB to recruit 5,000 new hands
Sandasen MARASINGHE
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will recruit a temporary work
force not exceeding 5,000 if the regular hands continue to keep away
from work, disrupting the electricity supply, deputy chairman Anura
Wijepala said.
He said the CEB is confident that it could provide electricity
without interruption despite the trade union action and would also
guarantee a continuous power supply.
Wijepala said the staff, including executive grade officers, did not
join the strike and was engaged in duties at power plants and other
important locations since last Friday to guarantee a smooth power
supply. He made these observation at a press conference at the Power and
Energy Ministry yesterday.
The deputy chairman said they also expect to recruit workers from
among retired CEB employees.
He said they always rely on skilled labour of the CEB employees, yet
the electricity supply could not be allowed to collapse due to trade
union action. Wijepala said a few trade unions initiated the strike
requesting to withdraw a warning letter for not attending to duties of
employees who were on shift basis, though the trade unions accepted the
CEB’s pledge to rectify the salary anomalies of the non executive staff
this November. Wijepala said the employees were working hard to provide
electricity without difficulty to people including Advanced Level
students.
“This is a crucial time as the catchment areas did not experience
three consecutive monsoonal rains and at a time when the Norochcholai
Power Plant is closed for repairs,” he said. He said the CEB would not
however recall the warning letter although the board members had to
leave as it would become a negative precedent that would finally plunge
the CEB into chaos.
Wijepala said at certain significant points, the CEB has employed
workers on shift basis.
He said in such instances, a worker cannot leave until the arrival of
his replacement since it could cause an irreparable loss to the CEB .
CEB General Manager Nihal Wickramasooriya said a special three member
committee is working to formalise a mechanism to rectify the salary
anomaly of non - executive staff members of the CEB. “The workers have
been promised that their issue will be attended to in November. However
they staged a one day token strike on June 4.”
He said though generally the employees on shift basis do not resort
to to strikes, this time they too joined the strike. “So they were sent
warning letters.” Wickramasooriya said this time, a few trade unions
staged the strike with 12 demands including to recall the warning letter
and expedite providing solutions for salary anomalies. He said warning
letters were sent with prior notice. |