1,000+ unions go on strike demanding Govt. resignation
By Chanka Jayasinghe
COLOMBO – Over 1,000 trade unions across multiple sectors are set to stage a massive island-wide one-day token strike on Thursday (28) in support of the ongoing wave of protests against the government.
Convener of the collective of unions, Ravi Kumudesh, told reporters the campaign aims to pressure the government to resign.
Unions representing ports, railway, petroleum, health, banking and education sectors will take part in the strike, he said.
Protests have erupted island-wide against the government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over what has become Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence. A protest organized and attended by people with no political party affiliation continued in front of the presidential secretariat in Colombo for the 19th day on Wednesday (27).
Protestors around the country demand both the president and prime minister resign.
“The general public is protesting asking the government to go home,” said Kumudesh, charging that President Rajapksa, due to his incompetence, ego and ignorance, has dragged the citizens of this country into a hole they’re struggling to get out of.
Noting that over 1,000 unions will join the token strike on Thursday, he said so far, no union has gone against the ongoing protest and that all the worker forces in this country will protest against the government. “We will raise black flags and all essential services will be carried out by workers dressed in black,” he added.
Kumudesh called on the government to leave and not escalate the union strike to a continuous protest, warning that the organization were planning to expand the protest into a hartal on May 6, if the government does not listen to public demand and step down.
Teachers Union Secretary Joseph Stalin said teachers at government schools will not report for duty on the day of the strike, but added that a decision to go for a hartal is not yet finalised. “The committee will decide it in the coming days,” he added.
Administrator of the Ceylon Bank Employees Association Rohan Wijesundara, meanwhile, said employees of around 18 private and state sector banks will participate in the token strike on Thursday. However, banks have been informed to take measures to continue operations with available staff, he added.
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