Labour chief says will discuss Combank issue with Central Bank

The Commissioner General of Labour has agreed to take the issue relating to trade union action and related matters over the planned takeover of the Commercial Bank by parties acting on behalf of powerful businessman Harry Jayawardene, a bank union said.

The Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU) quoted the senior labour official as saying that all possible avenues would be explored to prevent this problem turning into a major industrial dispute affecting even the other banks.

The three trade unions were commended for having taken up issues concerning the Institution and all other stake holders, rather than confining themselves to achieving only objectives of employees alone, the CBEU said. “Initiatives of this nature should go into the history books of labour relations of this country,” the Commissioner General of Labour was quoted as saying.

The union said the Commissioner General of Labour summoned the parties to the dispute for a meeting at the Labour Department on August 30 with representatives of all three trade unions of the Commercial Bank, Employers’ Federation and the corporate management of the bank taking part. The trade unions explained how they were compelled to resort to trade union action to prevent the group of shareholders affiliated to Harry Jayawardena from seeking the removal of the present Chairman Mahendra Amarasuriya.

Speaking on behalf of the unions, M.R.Shah, President of the Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union and also the Secretary of the Commercial Bank Branch of CBEU, said the three unions have collectively decided to take whatever steps necessary to ensure principles of good governance being always upheld at Commercial Bank thereby ensuring the protection of all stake holders-depositors, borrowers, minority shareholders and the employees. “We filed a court action to prevent the removal of Mr. Amarasuriya which was upheld and the case is continuing. In the meantime we wanted Central Bank, the regulator of Sri Lanka’s banking sector also to recognize the danger of the individual already controlling HNB and DFCC of also trying to gain control of Commercial bank, violating both the letter and the spirit of the banking act and its recent amendments,” Shah said.