Looming dark clouds

By Dr Vickramabahu Karunaratne

(November 08, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The conference held at Vihara Mahadevi Park was claimed to be a success. Large number of workplace leaders from CEB, petroleum, harbour, and railways attended the conference. Though dominated by the JVP shop stewards, work place leaders belonging to SLFP, LSSP, UNP and the Left attended with enthusiasm. According to Priyantha Wickremesinghe, CEB leader loyal to the Left Front and one of the speakers at the conference, nearly 1500 attended the meeting. That is a substantial attendance, considering the government campaign against this mobilization.

Warn

The government put forward veteran TU leaders such as Piyadasa and Devendra, to warn the workers about the so- called conspiracy. The conference has approved the work- to-rule resolution and accordingly it will start on November 11. Though it is claimed to be a work- to- rule, it will inevitably develop into a sit-in strike. Because the rules are so bureaucratic and inefficient, anyone following them diligently will not be able to work at all. It is a serious matter of concern. If all these Institutes adopt a standstill, all other work will be affected resulting in a general strike.

On the other hand, the masses in general will be greatly affected and there might be mass demonstrations. In the end it could develop towards a hartal, a mass uprising. I am indicating the worst situationthat may arise as far as the government is concerned.

So far, the government has been unsympathetic to demands of trade unions. Power and energy minister Senevitratne alleges that the action by trade unions to win salary increases is actually a means to embarrass the government and tarnish its image. He claims that the TUs have a political motive behind this campaign. However, it is clear that no successful TU struggle can be launched unless, there is a strong backing from rank and file members. The workers of these sectors have been demanding salary increases due to them, which were withheld due to the demands of the war. In fact, these workers supported the government even last year, and went against the call for a one- day token strike by the pro JVP- Left Front unions on July 10. On that day, the participation for the token strike from these sectors was poor. How can an alliance of trade unions, which include pro government unions hatch a conspiracy against the government? Even the JVP and the Left Front are at logger heads on many issues including the war and devolution. It is only government ministers, who can see a common political motive in a collective trade union action by leaders with such diverse political views. To make matters worse, the government, while dismissing the demand of these workers, has announced a salary increase to state sector workers from November 1st. That could raise the ire of corporation sector workers.

As such this announcement can be classified as a conspiracy to aggravate the situation. Nevertheless, there is an ambiguous political attack in this trade union action. This action takes place at a time when the Sinhala chauvinist column of the government is broken. The issue of Sarath Fonseka has created this situation.

Mahinda has admitted that some of those who helped him to come to power are now going in a different direction with new- found friends. Those who supported him in the war are now prepared to participate in common action with those who were against the war and supported the right of self- determination of the Tamil people.

This remarkable change is the result of the economic hardship and the presence of rampant corruption and misuse of funds. In addition the arbitrary actions of the police and the suppression of media have intensified the dissatisfaction. Consequently, even if there is no coherent unified political motive to TU action it will be an attack on the politics of Mahinda. Mahinda cannot put the blame on trade unions and mass action as he was one of the prominent people who took to mass action , when in opposition. If the trade union action leads to a hartal, then he should blame himself.

-Sri Lanka Guardian