News
To strike or not to strike, professionals’ decision hinges on outcome of talks with President
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
Professionals agitating for a reduction of taxes on their salaries say they will decide on whether to continue their strike, depending on the outcome of their talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Professionals’ Trade Union Alliance met with Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake on Friday to discuss the issues to be taken up at the meeting with the President.
The ad hoc alliance vowed to continue its trade union action if the talks with the President failed to produce an interim solution.
The talks with President will take place after the President takes part in the International Monetary Fund board meeting where Sri Lanka is expected to clinch the Fund’s Extended Fund Facility of US$ 2.9 billion.
At Friday’s meeting, the president’s secretary told the trade union leaders that the Government would require several months to provide the relief the unions were seeking in the form of tax revisions and implement some of their other proposals.
The union leaders said all that they wanted from the President was an interim solution and a timeframe for a long-term solution. They said the current taxes on their earnings were unbearably high.
The Government Medical Officers Association spokesman Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said the GMOA saw next week’s talks with the President as a positive signal from the Government.
“Since the Government says a revision of taxes could take time, we call for a quick interim solution. We told the President’s Secretary that this should be at the top of the agenda of our talks with the President,” he said.
Dr. Wijesinghe said the President’s Secretary agreed to their request and told them an Inland Revenue Department team had been given the task to review the tax system and recommend reliefs without undermining the revenue collection target.
Both the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers Union (CEBEU) and the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) said they too would wait for the outcome of the talks with the President to decide on further trade union action.
CEBEU President Nihal Weeraratne said though they would take part in the meeting with the president, they would continue their work-to-rule campaign.
He said that even though bank unions, the GMOA, and other trade unions had temporarily halted their trade union action following a written response from the President, they would proceed with their trade union action until March 22.
Eng. Weeraratne said they were asking the government to notify a timeframe to meet their demands. He said they would decide on further trade union action based on the response of the President at next week’s talks.
He warned they would escalate their trade union action if the President’s response was not positive.
FUTA President Shyama Banneheka said the Government should explain how it would meet the unions’ demands within a timeframe and how it would revise the tax policy.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!