Twenty‑four electricity sector trade unions, consisting of employees who have applied for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), have warned of trade union action if the government gazettes the date for restructuring the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) without providing acceptable solutions to their demands.
In a letter sent to the Minister, the unions said they had submitted eight demands nearly a month ago to safeguard employee rights, but no satisfactory response has been given.
The unions include the CEB Engineers’ Union, Technical Engineers and Officers’ Union, Industrial Technicians’ Union, and the United Electricity Employees’ Union.
They stressed that workers have no option but to resort to trade union action to secure their demands, which include confirming all employee benefits under the collective agreement, ensuring no cuts or adverse changes to monetary and non‑monetary entitlements, preparing documents with proper employee participation, eliminating salary disparities, creating a mechanism to resolve outstanding employee and institutional issues, and granting suspended retirement benefits to voluntary retirees.
The unions noted that a previous letter sent on January 12 had also gone unanswered, reinforcing their decision to escalate action if the restructuring date is gazetted without resolution. (Newswire)