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| Sunday, 2 October 2005 |
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Demands met : Postal workers back by Jayantha Sri Nissanka Postal workers yesterday morning called off the five-day old 'work to rule' campaign after 10 hours of lengthy discussions with authorities winning 19 demands. They were on 'work to rule' since September 26 and started negotiations with the authorities at 6.00 pm on Friday and concluded discussions on a satisfactory note at 4.30 pm yesterday morning. About a million letters including presidential election related letters were in postal bags unsorted and left idling in post offices, mail exchanges and central mail exchanges. However, union members agreed to clear all the delayed mail in two days. Authorities agreed to grant a special overtime payment for them to clear the backlog. Nine unions took to the 'work to rule' campaign refusing to work overtime which resulted in the collection of loads of postal sacks in mail exchanges and post offices islandwide. Postal workers were pushed to work to rule as a result of the Postal Department and the Ministry failing to attend to their routine administrative work. Post and Telecommunication Ministry Secretary Piyatissa Ranasinghe agreed to heed to the 19 demands before mid October, Union of Post and Telecommunication Officers' General Secretary K. S. Weerasekara told the Sunday Observer. Accordingly, the Ministry will fill 49 vacant Chief Postmaster posts, 333 Grade 1 Postmaster posts, 7 Deputy Postmaster General Posts, 28 Divisional Superintendent posts, 28 Regional Administrative Officers posts, gazette competitive exams for internal promotions, grant salary anomalies for class I and II postmasters, minor staff salary increments, reinstate interdicted officers, etc. Authorities also agreed to provide 10,000 bicycles for postmen without deducting the cost from their salaries. After five years, postmen will own these bicycles, Weerasekara said. In addition, the authorities also agreed to fill about 5,000 vacancies in the department with Graduate trainees. |
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