The Sri Lankan government and the main opposition parties on the island ended up disputing whether a general strike in the capital on July 10 had been a success or not.
While Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said that the token strike it launched with the support of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) on Thursday was a success, the Sri Lanka government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed in the parliament that the strike ended in 'utter failure' due to lack of support from the working class.
Sri Lankan public sector unions, backed by the opposition parties, threatened to cripple all state services in a July 10 general strike for a pay increase, but the government said it could not meet their demands without hurting its war effort.
Speaking before Thursday’s strike, union officials said a majority of the country's 1.2 million public sector employees would participate in the strike, which is expected to hit government services from transport to health, after a requested salary increase of 5,000 rupees ($46.4) a month was rejected.
"The trade unions will definitely go ahead with the planned strike, despite suppressing acts by the government," said K.D. Lalkantha, president of the All Ceylon Trade Union Federation and an opposition parliamentarian representing the JVP.
"Cost of living is rising rapidly and the state sector employees are unable to live with their present salaries. But the government has failed to grant a better salary increase."
Last week the government offered a 1,000 rupees-a-month pay increase for state employees, but the trade unions rejected the hike as "grossly inadequate".
High oil and food prices have caused
Annual consumer price inflation rose to 28.2 percent in June, its highest since the current index began in 2003.
In an effort to stave off the strike the Sri Lankan government argued that the trade union action would help the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella commenting on the strike said the government could not increase public sector salaries without damaging its ability to fight a civil war against the LTTE.
"We don't have provisions in the 2008 budget for such an increase. We would need an extra 50-60 billion rupees ($465-555 million) for the rest of the year," he said.
"What you can cut is the defence expenditure. But we will not cut defence expenditure at this decisive moment."
In the capital posters sprung up overnight saying the strike would benefit the LTTE.
Earlier Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told parliament that the strike would demoralise the security forces who have made significant gains in the war front by recapturing some of the LTTE-controlled areas in the north.
However the JVP rejected claims that the strike would impact the war.
Addressing the picket, JVP rail union leader Sumathipala Manawadu made clear that the JVP unions would bend over backwards to ensure that the strike did not affect the war.
“We are not against the war. We were the people that supported it directly. We donated blood for the war. We gave one day’s wage for the war. We are ready to sacrifice everything for the war. It is false to say that the one-day strike will be an obstacle to the war. Are not the war operations being waged on Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays?” he said.
The government was also accused of fear mongering in its attempt to scuttle the one-day strike as it claimed to have information that the LTTE could set off bombs in the South during the week of the strike.
At a press conference on July 7, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said that the LTTE would launch a major attack to mark “Black July”—the vicious anti-Tamil pogroms in July 1983.
“In such a situation would it be reasonable to call workers out?” he said. “We have received information and it is our duty to protect the state institutions”.
Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa who was also present at the media conference, accused the trade unions of calling the strike to undermine military gains in the war. “Some elements in the opposition want to reverse what the security forces have so far achieved,” he declared.
As part of the campaign of intimidation, the military and police have boosted their numbers, particularly in the capital and surrounding suburbs. Over the past week, the security forces intensified their cordon-and-search dragnets in largely Tamil areas.
Lakshman Hullugalle, director of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), warned in the Island on Monday that “special security measures would be in place countrywide... to meet any security contingency” caused by the strike. Hullugalle specifically identified “terrorist attacks” and “attempts to intimidate employees who report for work” as actions that would be targetted.
In the North, the general strike organised by public sector workers fizzled out without any significant impact on the daily activities of the public following threats from the Sri Lankan army (
Though tension prevailed in the peninsula in the morning, the situation turned normal late morning, with a heavy intimidatory presence of
The troops fanning out across the province warned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) officials across the peninsula that the services should be operated as usual. As a result normal services resumed after 7:00 a.m.
The troops from the various military camps in the peninsula visited the schools in their vicinity cautioning the principals to make sure that all students attend school Thursday. The principals were told to submit complete details of the teachers and students who failed to be present Thursday.
In addition
The JVP hoped up to 200,000 public servants of the 1.1 million government sector employees would strike, crippling transport, health, port and the education sectors.
However, according to government sources most services were operational without a serious disruption.
A heated argument ensued between the parliamentarians of the government and the opposition whether the strike was successful or not.
JVP trade union leader K.D. Lalkantha claimed that 70 percent of the teachers and medical staff attached to the trade union and 60 percent of the railway employees participated in the strike.
But, UPFA parliamentarians demanded the JVP trade union leader resign his parliamentary seat claiming that the strike has failed.
Lalkantha had challenged in parliament Wednesday that he would resign the post of National Trade Union Centre and his parliamentary seat if the token strike failed.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Estate Workers Trade Union of the UNP announced that ninety percent of the plantation workers joined the token strike.
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), one of the trade unions representing the plantation workers and an ally of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance government disputed the claim.
On Thursday, traffic in
