Public sector to be slashed

Public servants failing to pass an efficiency test in three attempts will be forced to retire from service in a new move aimed at reducing the over-sized public sector, trade union and opposition leaders said yesterday.

The Public Services Commission in a Gazette notification also announced other measures which impose restrictions on recruitment to the public service which already has some one million workers. Under the new system employees who sit the efficiency test better known in the public service as the “Efficiency Bar” test will be given three opportunities to sit the exam to qualify and gain promotions.

Failure to qualify would mean their services would be terminated on the grounds of inefficiency.
Hitherto, public servants who fail qualify were allowed to continue until the retirement age of 55, but were not entitled to increments or promotions.

The same scheme will be applicable to new employees who fail to pass the examination. In another move to curtail the number the employees entering the public sector, casual employees will have no claim for permanency.

The PSC has also moved to curtail the rights of trade unionists. According to the latest Gazette notification, the scheme of releasing workers for trade union activities for an unlimited period has been suspended. In future they would be released for a maximum of five years.

Any employee applying for no-pay leave for more than five years will not be entitled to pension rights as well. The Sunday Times learns that a second gazette notification imposing more restrictions on the public sector is to be issued shortly.

Trade unionist and opposition leaders have expressed concerns about the moves by the government amidst claims that the public sector was being reduced in terms of conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from which Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of US dollars 1.9 billion.

JVP parliamentarian and labour spokesman K.D. Lalkantha told The Sunday Times that the moves were seen as the first step on curtailing the public sector and move to freeze recruitment.

He said the curtailment was evident in the recruitment of Samurdhi officers as Grama Sevaka officers instead of recruiting Grama Sevaka officers separately.