Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijsekara told Parliament yesterday that reforms meant for the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation were not aimed at laying off existing staff but any new recruitments would be based on a needs/vacancy-based criteria, subject to a revised salary scale,

The Minister said that restructuring of the CPC, in this regard, was necessary.

He said so while responding to a question SLPP dissident MP Anura Priyadarshana Yapa who asked if the Minister could guarantee that existing CPC staff would not be removed, under the proposed liberalisation initiative.

Minister Wijesekera said: “We have no plans to remove workers. If workers are efficient and work with discipline, there is more than enough work to be done in this institute, particularly in storage and refinery. These needs exist in the CPC.

“We also have vacancies in areas where workers are needed. There are some areas where there are too many workers. When those people retire, we will hire qualified people as required. That is our plan, it’s not to remove existing staff,” said Minister Wijesekara.

The Minister said the CPC has over 4,000 employees, while the local unit of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has only 150. While Ceypetco runs 1,200 filling stations, he said, LIOC has 254. “This is the reality. We must understand that,” he said.

The problem is not actually the number of workers, but their salary scale, said Wijesekara, noting that all CPC workers are on the same salary scale and that, as a result of a collective agreement, in 2012, every worker is entitled to a 25 percent annual salary increment, with no evaluation. This applies to the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the Water Board and other state-owned enterprises.

“There is no problem giving an increment, based on their skills and the work they do. I personally believe that good pay is necessary. A refinery manager, refinery engineer, et al, should be on very good salary scales. LIOC also pays well, but not the same salary for every worker.

“So we must definitely do some restructuring. But we give a guarantee that this is not a move to remove workers. But, in future, the recruitment process must change,” he said.