Opposition trade union activists taking part in a demonstration demanding higher salaries outside the main railway station in Colombo yesterday.
IANS/Colombo
Trade unions affiliated to Sri Lanka’s opposition parties took to the streets demanding a salary hike, an official said Tuesday.
Hundreds of protesters representing trade unions affiliated to the main opposition United National Party (UNP) gathered in downtown
Colombo, Xinhua reported.
They were demanding an increase of Rs10,000 ($78) in salaries for all 1.3mn of Sri Lanka’s public workers in the government’s budget presentation
on Friday.
Carrying placards and shouting slogans, the protesters asked the government to grant a pay hike in the budget instead of providing piecemeal allowances which, they say, would be taken away by the government later.
Wasantha Samarasinghe, chairman of the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, said the working masses cannot be fooled by the budget.
“This government should be ready to go home at the next presidential election if the workers’ demands are not heeded,” he told the rally.
The protests by trade unions have been seen by political analysts as an attempt to ramp up anti-government sentiments among the public ahead of possible presidential elections in January.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has reduced fuel, gas and electricity costs over the last few weeks and hinted at other relief measures ahead of his
government’s budget on Friday.
Rajapakse has advanced the presidential election to January. It was due only two years later.
