Around 25 trade unions attached to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) have decided to withdraw from all services for 24 hours from 3:00 p.m. today (09).
The General Secretary of the CEB’s Sri Lanka Nidahas Sewaka Samgamaya, Prabath Priyantha stated that the strike action will be launched over several demands including the government’s failure to provide a positive response to the requests of electricity workers.
He also noted that employees will not report to work until a discussion is held after studying the collective agreement.
Prabath Priyantha stated that a decision has been made to continue operating the power plants and other essential operations. However, he said that all breakdown repairs and maintenance work will be halted.
He further stated that within the 24-hour period, uninterrupted electricity will be supplied to national hospitals in Colombo, Kandy and Karapitiya Hospital and to the Army Headquarters.
A total of 25 trade unions have jointly reached the decision, Prabath Priyantha added.
Meanwhile, Ajith Devapriya, the Secretary of the National Employees’ Union of the Ceylon Electricity Board stated that the trade union action is not intended to bring the government to its knees. Although they agree with restructuring of the CEB, they will not agree to any measure that treats electricity board employees unfairly.
Accordingly, trade unions will launch the strike from 3:00 p.m. today.
