The trade union collective of professionals says its members are carrying on the strikes today (March 14) as planned, as Monday’s meeting with the government was unfruitful.

Following the meeting held with the Presidential Secretary and the Finance Ministry officials on Monday evening, the professionals told reporters that they were not given conclusive solutions.

Accordingly, the government medical officers will expand its token strike to North-western, Sabaragamuwa, Northern, North-central, and Uva provinces today.

On Monday, their strike action brought the functions at government hospitals in Western, Southern, Eastern, and Central provinces to a standstill.

The president of Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA), Prof. Shyama Banneheka said university lecturers are engaging in a continuous strike as conclusive solutions were not provided for their demands.

Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union president Channa Dissanayake mentioned that the BOC employees have planned to stage protests in Colombo this afternoon, while the Education Non-Academics Employees’ Union is scheduled to launch a strike from March 15.

In the meantime, the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) and trade unions of the ports authority are on a work-to-rule campaign today.

A collective trade union action is planned for this week, as many sectors have now joined the protest against the conduct of the government, including the electricity tariff hike, the unfair tax policy revision and the interest rate increase.

Several trade unions have threatened to go on island-wide strikes if the government fails to meet their demands.