NTUC says will call off July 10 strike if four demands met

The National Trade Union Centre yesterday said it would call off the July 10 general strike only if President Mahinda Rajapaksa gives into four demands.

NTUC President and JVP parliamentarian K. D. Lalkantha outlined the four conditions: to reduce the present Cabinet from 109 to 30, reduce the number of presidential advisors from 168 to 30. Postpone the Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provincial Council elections and implement the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, immediately.

Lalkantha warned that essential services like electricity, garbage disposal and transport will be crippled, but health services will function smoothly. He advised all strikers to remain at home on July 10 and said that notices would be issued to all members the previous day at the entrances to their places of work.

The NTUC yesterday called a meeting at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium with the participation of representatives of 366 unions that have agreed to join the strike.

Lalkantha recalled that when the present Government was formed, four ministerial portfolios were given to the JVP. But although the JVP did not approve, it gave the four JVP members the choice of accepting or rejecting the portfolios.

Lalkantha said that the newly launched Mihin Air had incurred a loss of Rs 3,200 million within the first year.


He said that the NTUC had learnt from reliable sources that waste, corruption, nepotism and family bandyism were rampant in the present Government.

The Government was still unable to solve the teachers and principals salary anomalies since 1997 and the entire educational system was twisted according to the whims and fancies of so called educationists.

An ousted senior JVP member said that the strike at this moment was not reasonable since the Government was at war with the LTTE.

Asked what would be the course of action if the Government failed to heed to the NTUC’s four demands, Lalkatha said the NTUC would convene a meeting on July 11, the day after the intended strike and would decide whether to launch similar strikes continuously for two days, three days or more forcing the Government to implement its four proposals.