Non-academic staff and undergraduates strikes across North-East

After over 75 days of continuous strikes throughout the country, the university's non-academic staff had decided to call it off after discussions with the University Grants Commission. The employees were demanding the rectification of a 15% salary cut. Meanwhile, university graduates were also on strike urging the government to provide them with jobs that they were previously promised. The undergraduates lamented that they had spent several years studying at Sri Lanka's universities only to graduate and remain unemployed. 

Students in Jaffna held a protest outside the district secretariat insisting that they be given job opportunities without discrimination. "Graduates are jobless are just one exam. We obtained the degree by spending many years and studying hard. What is it worth if we can't find a job?"

Strikes have become a common feature in Sri Lanka's socioeconomic landscape, particularly in the run-up to a presidential election. Over the last few weeks, there have been a slew of trade unions including health, railway, customs, and teachers who have been on strike, forcing essential services to grind to a halt. 

Alarmingly, a Sri Lankan government minister holding a media briefing at the Presidential Media Division recently said that they were advised by the State Intelligence Unit to not give in to the strikes by non-academic staff as it was part of a bigger ploy. State Higher Education Minister Suren Raghavan told reporters the SIS warned the government from granting a salary hike. 

“That is what the State Intelligence Services told us,” he had told EconomyNext responding to a question at a media briefing in Colombo. “We were above to grant this. They (SIS) said no and this is only the beginning.  Several other state institutions were waiting (to protest for wage hikes). So we can’t do this,” he said.

Raghavan said the government cannot afford such an amount at a time when the economy is just emerging from an unprecedented bankruptcy. Nearly 14,600 non-academic employees from 17 state universities and 19 joint post-graduate institutions were on strike during the last few weeks.