CEB threatens to strike over pay hike

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) unions are planning a one day wildcat strike this month to win their pay hike demands.
The date will be fixed at tomorrow’s Union meeting, sources said.

Over 10,000 CEB workers were on sick leave on Friday as a pre warning to the Minister of Power and Energy, John Seneviratne after talks with him last week failed. The Minister proposed a 33% pay hike but the unions rejected the proposal as it would increase the CEB General Manager’s salary by Rs. 25,000 and the lowest scale worker’s salary by only Rs. 3,600.

“We need at least a Rs. 5,000 pay hike for the lowest salary scale worker because they suffer heavily due to the skyrocketing cost-of-living”, Secretary of the Lanka Electricity Workers’ Union, Ranjan Jayalal told the Sunday Observer.

The CEB employees salaries are increased every three years. It was revised in 2003. If we do not get a proper salary this year, our workers will have to wait till 2009 to get a pay hike, he said.