1. suspend all ad-hoc salary revisions and other corrective measures agreed with trade unions recently and to be promised in the near future with immediate effect
2. Revisit and review salary scales and official statuses of public servants in a uniform, fair, equitable and transparent manner on a scientific basis in consultation with experts in salaries and cadre commission.
Sri Lanka Association of Medical Specialists the leading professional body of Sri Lankan medical specialists has observed that granting ad-hoc perks to chosen segments of the public sector induced by trade unions has resulted in losing the confidence of public servants in government . In order to prevent further erosion, The Association urges the government to temporarily suspend all ad-hoc salary revisions and other corrective measures agreed with trade unions recently and to be promised in the near future with immediate effect until a concrete solution is worked out.
Issuing a media release Association of Medical specialists further recommend to revisit and review salary scales and official statuses of public servants in a uniform, fair, equitable and transparent manner on a scientific basis in consultation with experts in salaries and cadre commission. . If such remedial measures are not adopted, we are compelled to warn the government of facing a spate of more trade union actions plunging the nation to absolute chaos they warned.
Read the full statement
As a nation has been plunged into a critical stage as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has been further aggravated by lack of direction in the general and poor fiscal management of public funds. We have observed a spate of trade union actions demanding the rights of their membership. While respecting and reserving the right to resort to trade union action, one should review the root cause(s) of this trend. Failure of the government machinery to win the confidence of the public sector as a whole in our opinion, is the fundamental error. Granting ad-hoc perks to chosen segments of the public sector has created and confirmed their suspicion. What has become apparent is that what determines whether one would win their demands or not will depend only on the might and political allegiance of the trade union and not how reasonable their demands are. To win such demands who are they holding to ransom? It is usually the poorest of the poor who has already been battered by the pandemic. As public servants we have to admit that our segment of the society has been the least affected by the pandemic and resultant economic impact. Our salaries were paid in full whether we worked, worked from home or did not work. Even the transport was arranged at the expense of the state for some. Even essentials were made available for us delivered to the workplace as an extra convenience. These are some of the privileges we have enjoyed as public servants during this period. In contrast to us, the private sector employees were not so lucky. There were pay cuts, redundancies were declared and bonuses were trimmed, all as cost cutting measures. Another hard- hit segment was free lance workers, small businesses and worst of all were daily wage earners. Farmers too received a death blow as there was no established satisfactory mechanism to sell their produce. Therefore, we strongly believe that being the least affected segment of the society, we, public servants should be more mindful of our duty over rights. Having analysed current situation and cascade of events crippling the entire nation, we feel that an urgent interim solution should be sought to prevent a lot more trade unions joining the bandwagon.
We strongly recommend – 1. To temporarily suspend all ad-hoc salary revisions and other corrective measures agreed with trade unions recently and to be promised in the near future with immediate effect until a concrete solution is worked out. 2. 2.To revisit and review salary scales and official statuses of public servants in a uniform, fair , equitable and transparent manner on a scientific basis in consultation with experts in salaries and cadre commission. If such remedial measures are not adopted, we are compelled to warn the government of facing a spate of more trade union actions plunging the nation to absolute chas.
