Railway strike postponed until tomorrow

Railway trade unions have decided to postpone the strike action which was scheduled to be launched from midnight today (8). 

Trade unions say that the strike has been postponed until 12 noon tomorrow (9).

They said that the decision was taken to temporarily postpone the trade union action following a request made by the committee appointed to look into their grievances. 

Railway trade unions are preparing to engage in strike action from midnight today (08), based on several demands including the failure by authorities to fulfill their promises on resolving railway workers’ issues.

Several trade unions affiliated with the railway department had expressed their support for this trade union action, according to the Locomotive Engineering Operators’ Union (LEOU). 

Discussions held between representatives of railway trade unions and the government at 10am this morning were unsuccessful and both sides failed to reach an agreement. 

Deputy Minister of Transport Ashoka Abeysinghe, Secretary to the Ministry and other officials had taken part in the talks. However, the trade unions had then decided to carry out the strike as planned because they had not received acceptable solutions during that meeting. 

But the railway trade unions now say they have decided to postpone the strike until noon tomorrow.