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FUTA asks govt. to stop undermining labour rights, exploiting retirement funds

Published

3 years ago

2023/07/31

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) on Saturday called on the government to ensure that any far-reaching changes in education policy should only be initiated after obtaining a clear mandate from the people of the country.

A FUTA statement signed by its General Secretary Athulasiri Samarakoon said: The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) strongly condemns the recent actions of the Government; measures to undermine labour rights, cuts to retirement funds and privatization.

The Government is flagrantly insensitive to the pain and suffering of the working people as it takes forward policies that further dispossess them. We condemn the relentless attack on the hard-won democratic rights, undertaken with little consultation of the public and sustained through a systematic and ever-expanding strategy of silencing the citizenry.

The Government has passed a domestic debt restructuring plan in Parliament that directly undermines the retirement funds of working people, who are being asked to absorb the burden of debt that successive governments have wantonly accrued. Left out of such an onslaught are wealthy individuals and financial institutions, whose Treasury Bonds investment will remain untouched.

In contrast, every family who had expected some security from their Employees Provident Fund, Employees Trust Fund and other retirement funds to ensure survival when they can no longer work, have to now grapple with the reality of a bleak future. In addition to over 40 percent loss of the value of their retirement funds last year due to a hugely depreciated rupee and high inflation, and the tremendous rise in cost of living affecting their daily lives, now they will lose close to 50 percent of the future value of their retirement funds over the next 16 years.

The proposed labour law that is being rushed by the government, in the guise of protecting women, makes women’s work even more precarious by introducing provisions that will help employers circumvent maternity benefits and permit “flexible” work that places fewer obligations on employers to ensure the protection of women workers who must work at night.

More broadly, the proposed laws repeal laws that protect workers, facilitating arbitrary terminations, allows ad hoc changes to the compensation payable to them and makes it difficult for workers to join trade unions and take trade union action. In short, the proposed law attacks trade unions, weakens the statutory obligations of employers towards workers and will lead to greater job insecurity and exploitation of workers.

The proposals announced last week by the Parliamentary Select Committee, tasked with expanding higher education opportunities, does nothing to address the crisis that have left Universities struggling to survive, due to drastic funding cuts, bloated intakes prompted by government pressure, and the rampant brain drain; the latter, in particular, caused by the very policies being implemented by this government.

Instead, it chooses to make sweeping changes to higher education that will not only weaken public education, but also increase the public cost of education by subsidising private higher education. We note that embedded in this document is an attack on university teachers, and further note that government has a history of using such attacks to silence those who may resist their “reforms”. These moves to privatise higher education are paralleled by initiatives to privatise many other public services, which are undermining the social contract between the state and the citizens that had been built over the decades since Independence.

These sweeping changes if implemented will affect us, our students, and the public for generations. Yet, little has been done to genuinely consult the people, especially those made most vulnerable because of these changes. Instead, the public is faced with heightened mobilization of security forces, threats of draconian draft laws that criminalise democratic action and deliberate misinterpretation of laws to prevent any form of protest. We are gravely concerned with the path in which the country is headed; one in which democracy, civic engagement, and basic economic and political rights are ignored as being irrelevant and inconsequential.

FUTA has always considered its role as one of working with other movements to safeguard and buttress our democratic system. FUTA demands that the Government ensure that any far-reaching changes in policy are initiated after obtaining a clear mandate from the people of the country.

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Related Topics:Federation of University Teachers Associations FUTA Government movements

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Implementation of water supply projects in small town and rural areas.

Published

3 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Access to safe drinking water for populations residing in small towns and rural areas of Sri Lanka has not yet been fully ensured, and this continues to pose a major challenge to the country’s social and economic development.

With a view to overcome this situation, a programme has been planned to provide clean drinking water to approximately 600,000 families living in semi-urban and rural areas through the implementation of 300 projects covering 50 small towns and rural areas.

The projects are aimed at establishing safe, reliable and sustainable drinking water supply systems, with water to be treated through modern purification technologies, including chlorination and filtration systems, in conformity with national and international drinking water standards.

Accordingly, having considered the resolution furnished by the Minister of Housing, Construction and Water Supply, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the implementation of the proposed programme by the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and the National Community Water Supply Department during the period 2027–2029, subject to the conduct of a feasibility study on the proposed programme and inclusion in the Public Investment Programme based on its outcome.

News

Cabinet nod to submit Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 04 of 2026 to Parliament for its concurrence

Published

3 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which are chemical compounds widely used in refrigerators and air conditioning units, are being globally phased out under the Montreal Protocol due to their high potential for ozone layer depletion and global warming.

Sri Lanka has likewise committed to phasing out these chemical substances by the year 2030 in a stepwise manner. Accordingly,
regulations under the Import and Export (Control) Act, No. 1 of 1969, namely the Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 04 of 2026, published in Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2487/29 dated 2026-05-07, have been issued, prohibiting, with effect from 2026-06-06, the importation of equipment and appliances that operate solely on hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and prohibiting, with effect from 2028-01-01, the importation of compressors used as components in refrigeration systems of equipment and appliances that operate solely on hydrochlorofluorocarbons.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as
the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to submit the aforementioned Regulations to Parliament for its concurrence.

News

Declaration of Elephant Migratory Corridors to minimize HEC in Monaragala and Hambantota districts

Published

4 hours ago

2026/06/3

Priyan

Wild elephants inhabit approximately two-thirds of the land area of Sri Lanka, and it has been identified that the rapid obstruction of elephant habitats and migratory corridors due to various development projects and human activities has directly contributed to the escalation of human–elephant conflict.

It has been recognised that, in order to mitigate such conflict to a certain extent, the protection of wild elephant habitats and migratory corridors must be undertaken as a matter of urgency.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation is currently engaged in identifying wild elephant migratory corridors in collaboration with relevant Divisional Secretaries, stakeholder agencies, and organisations.

Under the Wild Elephant Migratory Corridor Identification Programme in Monaragala District, the Wild Elephant Migratory Corridor from Handapanagala to Demodara
across Menik Ganga (River Menik) up to Yala National Park has been identified, and approval has been granted by the Monaragala District Coordinating Committee for that.

The Elephant Migratory Corridor from Yala National Park’s Zone VI -Lunugamvehera National Park to Udawalawe National Park has already been declared as the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve in 2002.

Within this area, five (05) licensed land plots have been identified, and these lands have not yet been developed.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Environment to take the following measures:

To declare, under the provisions of the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, the elephant migratory corridor from Handapanagala in Monaragala District to Demodara across Menik Ganga up to Yala National Park as a sanctuary.

To provide alternative land outside the wildlife reserve area in lieu of the five (05) licensed land plots located within the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve area, and to re-declare the Wetahira Kanda Nature Reserve as an elephant migratory corridor.

To acquire, upon payment of compensation, land parcels containing buildings constructed in a manner that obstruct the Koholankala elephant corridor in the Hambantota District, and to declare the relevant area of the Hambantota Wild Elephant Management Reserve as a sanctuary.