Trade Union action a flop, says Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva

It has been a historic victory for the government that the working community that knows the country’s development is theirs too, defeated trade union action on May 21, organized by a few political parties in the Opposition, in a conspiracy against the government with the support of NGOs and inimical forces of the country, bringing up the electricity crisis, said Leader of the House and Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

He made this observation in Parliament yesterday, on behalf of the government.

The minister further stated that public servants and private sector employees who understood that trade union action should not be wasted on behalf of bankrupt political parties, reported to work on May 21, in support of the government and its development process, stated that 85 percent of the working community generally report to work on a given day, but their attendance had been around 94.1 percent on May 21. He stated that statistics of 487 institutions had been collected on Tuesday to calculate this percentage.

He also stated that 202 extra buses had been used by the SLTB on Tuesday and an extra income of Rs 8 million earned that day.

The working community paid their gratitude to the government led by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa that loves the country and saved the country by defeating a 3 decade long terrorism menace against the country.

He said that the government pays gratitude to the working community who rely on the government, the Mahinda Chintanaya and the government’s massive development process initiated to make the country the ‘Wonder of Asia’.

He said that the JVP joined the J R Jayewardene government in 1980 to remove thousands of 1980 July strikers. The UNP that had forced the working community to commit suicide for demanding a fair salary. It is ridiculous that the UNP was shedding crocodile tears for the working community.

The JVP who talks of electricity bills, destroyed more than 5,000 transformers that added an enormous burden on the CEB.

The UNP could not cater to the electricity needs of the people in the North when the three decade terrorism existed. The UNP did not have a solution to the electricity crisis. But this government provided electricity not only to the South, but also to the North. The bankrupt political parties that could not take the government at an election, attempted to gain petty political advantage by such unsuccessful trade union actions.