Friday, September 14, 2012

Sri Lankan University Teachers Problems Solve within few Days

Sri Lanka Higher Education Ministry has taken steps to solve the university lecturers’ problems soon, Higher Education Minister S B Dissanayake said at a function held Lake House. Though he said problem will solve within few days, did not mentioned the ways and how ministry is going to solve the problem.
“Currently the issues facing university academics are identified and successfully sorted out. Within few days’ time, we will come up with a balanced solution. This solution will help to enhance the progress of the university system in Sri Lanka” minister expressed.
Not only Higher Education Ministry, but, also Education, Youth Affairs and Skills Development, Economic Development and Social Services Departments are taking part to assist and facilitate higher education sector in Sri Lanka.
University teachers union, FUTA is demanding from government to allocate 6 percent of the country's GDP for education, grant independence of universities from political interferences and an increase in salaries for university teachers by 20 percent.
University teachers in Sri Lanka started their strike on July 04 and due to strike all the activities of university were paralyzed and about 70,000 undergraduate students suspended the academic activities and affected the examination of universities.
Earlier Minister Dissanayake said “Suspected political agendas are behind the trade union action by FUTA to create a political crisis leading to regime change”. “Government took every possible effort to resolve the matter through negotiations”.
 “We had around 10 discussions and exchanging of letters, drafts of MoU etc and still the FUTA has not agreed to resolve this matter amicably due to some unknown reasons which may be mainly due to political reasons” he said.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Students protest supporting University Lecturers-Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan University Students are protesting near University Grants Commission (UGC) colombo. At the moment Heavy traffic is reported several roads in Capital Colombo.Students are protesting as a support for FUTA strike and students are urging the government to resolved University teachers’ problem soon and start the academic activities.

In Sri Lanka there are protests and boycotts by both academics(FUTA) and students calling on the government to work for resolve the issues faced by lecturers. In some cases, police fired teargas and water cannons to disperse protestors. But the demands of academics have not yet been met and their strike is still on.

The union FUTA is demanding that the government allocate 6% of Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product to education, grants universities independence from political interference, and increases lecturer salaries by 20%.

Academics launched their strike on 4 July, paralysing higher education institutions, suspending the academic activities of around 70,000 undergraduate students and affecting examinations.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

FUTA Vs Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha

Last week Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that as policy he does not negotiate with trade unions while they are in to strike action and said if FUTA wants to solve their problems, they should first suspend the trade union action.
Extract from FUTA statement
“FUTA has no desire to prolong trade union action any longer than necessary.  We appeal to H.E the President and the government to refrain from delaying negotiations and to take immediate steps to resolve the current crisis in the education sector.  The strike action has gone on for over 2 months not because FUTA was unwilling to engage in a negotiated settlement but because of the government’s inability to provide specific answers to the issues raised by FUTA”.
Full Statement
We wish to register our disappointment regarding media reports on the 7th of September quoting H.E the President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa that as a policy he does not engage in discussions with unions while they are on strike action.
He is further quoted as saying that if FUTA wants to settle issues through negotiations, it should first suspend trade union action.
This statement by the President has very serious implications not just for FUTA but for other trade unions as well.  The right to engage in trade union action is a fundamental human right and it is a right which is constitutionally guaranteed in Sri Lanka.  By refusing to engage with trade unions engaged in strike action, the President is questioning this fundamental right.  If the Executive takes such a position with regard to a fundamental freedom and right enshrined within the constitution, it suggests a lack of respect and regard for basic democratic principles from the highest authority of this country which is extremely alarming.
H.E the President is well aware that prior to resorting to trade union action, FUTA has been engaged in discussions for almost a year to resolve issues in the education sector.  The lack of a proper response from the government drove FUTA to resort to strike action in July 2012.  Since then, FUTA has participated in discussions with the various members of the government and has expressed its willingness to resolve the issue through discussions. Discussions were held with Mr Lalith Weeratunga, Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Dr P.B Jayasundera.   However, the government has yet to provide a specific solution that signals to FUTA a willingness to resolve this issue.  The Cabinet note that was shared with FUTA does not address the salary issues of university academics nor does it commit to a specific plan for increasing investment in education.  Mechanisms for addressing the issue of university autonomy and politicisation have also not been specified. Although the salary issue has been discussed with the Secretary to the Treasury, FUTA still awaits a specific plan from the government in this regard.  In such a situation, FUTA is not in a position to suspend trade union action.
FUTA has no desire to prolong trade union action any longer than necessary.  We appeal to H.E the President and the government to refrain from delaying negotiations and to take immediate steps to resolve the current crisis in the education sector.  The strike action has gone on for over 2 months not because FUTA was unwilling to engage in a negotiated settlement but because of the government’s inability to provide specific answers to the issues raised by FUTA.
Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri
President
FUTA
9th September 2012