Friday 2nd May, 2025

Another May Day is over. Sri Lankan workers were treated to a mega political circus yesterday. They may have been thoroughly entertained, but serious issues affecting them remain unresolved. Their trade unions are all at sea. These outfits are anything but modern; they are only adept at making demands, staging protests, and doing political work either for the government or for the Opposition. They have failed to keep pace with a fast-paced, futuristic world, where work is caught in a whirlpool of change, which throws up new challenges.

Thankfully, the US tariff hikes, which would have wiped out tens of thousands of jobs in this country, have been put on hold for three months, but this moratorium could be considered an interval in hell, as it were. The NPP government says its talks with Washington to have the US tariffs lowered were fruitful, but President Donald Trump possesses an elusive mind, and it is not possible to guess his erratic moves. So, Sri Lanka had better devise ways and means of facing the worst-case scenario. The government has to engage exporters, trade unions and other stakeholders in discussions and formulate a strategy to prepare the country for any eventuality.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There are some positive developments. The EU is likely to extend the GSP Plus concession, according to media reports. That will stand Sri Lanka, especially exporters and workers, in good stead. But prudence demands that the developing countries work hard towards weaning themselves off the largesse of big powers, which are not driven by altruism, as evident from the unprecedented US tariff hikes. World trade is driven by the predatory instincts of major powers that do not hesitate to protect their interests at the expense of the Global South.

Modern technology has turned the world of work on its head. Workers are losing their jobs the world over owing to automation. Some categories of labour are becoming redundant, and certain trades will be extinct sooner than expected. The world is becoming increasingly overdependent on invasive AI technologies, which have made the once unthinkable possible. Whoever would have thought a decade or so ago that 3D-printed food would be in the realm of possibility? Even houses are 3D printed, and the demand for this technology is reportedly increasing around the world as it has made construction work faster, cheaper and less labour intensive. Possibilities unlocked by unforeseen technological advancement are enormous and mind-boggling. The NPP government, the Opposition and trade unions must take cognisance of these developments and proactively devise strategies to prepare the country for an uncharted future, where the nature of work will be radically different from what it is today.

Some Sri Lankan trade unions are behaving in such a way that we are reminded of the mindset of the Luddites in 19th-century England, in a manner of speaking. Postal workers have been protesting against a new scheme introduced by the government for paying traffic fines via the GovPay online platform. That will adversely impact the revenue of the Postal Department, they say. The whole world is moving towards cashless transactions, and the postal trade unions will have to come to terms with reality. The day may not be far off when Sri Lanka has to adopt automation in the state service to improve public administration and reduce costs. It is the duty of trade unions to study new trends in the world of work and educate their members thereon, and find ways and means of safeguarding their interests. Instead of facing such challenges, they are issuing threats, bellowing rhetoric and holding protests!

Some countries have shortened the traditional work week to promote work-life balance and, most of all, support employees, affected by new technologies, by enabling them to pursue other gainful activities to supplement their income. Sri Lanka is also moving in that direction, albeit slowly, but neither its rulers nor its trade unionists seem to be concerned. They have apparently adopted a fatalistic attitude.

Thursday 1st May, 2025

The International Workers’ Day falls today, and Sri Lanka is ready to mark it on a grand scale. However, May Day celebrations in this country are like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark or Sinhabahu without the Lion’s son; workers do not play any important role in the main May Day events. Politicians grab the limelight and workers become mere spectators.

Today’s main May Day events are held by the government and the Opposition to further their own interests rather than those of workers or labour unions; they are all out to use their May Day rallies and processions to gain a boost for their election campaigns.

Sri Lankan political parties have hijacked May Day. Almost every International Labour Day rally is a cringeworthy display of workers’ servility to politicians, with trade unionists falling over themselves to please their political leaders by showering praise, and cutting pathetic figures in the process. Today, we will have politicians thundering at May Day rallies, laying out what they consider their achievements and making more promises to workers.

There are some genuine workers’ unions championing labour rights on May Day, but they are the exception that proves the rule. Most trade unions are affiliated to political parties, and they subjugate workers’ interests to political agendas. No wonder workers’ lot has not improved all these years.

Gone are the days when governments passed progressive labour laws and adopted other measures to protect workers’ rights. Today, governments stand accused of trying to curtail labour rights at the behest of some international lending institutions. But workers continue to offer their services as palanquin bearers to politicians.

The party in power usually puts on the biggest May Day show. This, we have seen under successive governments. The ruling NPP is scheduled to hold its May Day rally at Galle Face today to display its power and outshine its political rivals in the run-up to the upcoming local government (LG) polls. It finds itself in a position where it cannot afford to suffer even a minor electoral setback. The problem with electoral setbacks is that they often snowball, eventually bringing down governments.

Crowd participation is not a reliable indicator of a political party’s popularity or electoral strength, for most of the floating voters who determine the outcomes of elections do not take the trouble of attending political rallies. On the other hand, crowd boosting with hired attendees, and methods such as astroturfing have become the order of the day; public opinion is swayed in devious ways. Crowd filling has become a kind of industry in this country, as former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said about six months ago. His claim went unchallenged.

It is high time Sri Lankan workers and their trade union leaders asserted their power and liberated May Day from the clutches of wily politicians who have been using them as a cat’s paw to pull political chestnuts out of the fire.

Meanwhile, trade unions ought to realise that they have a crucial role to play in helping the country come out of the current economic crisis. The goal of economic recovery will remain unattainable unless national productivity is increased substantially.

Besides serving workers by protecting their rights and supporting them in labour disputes, etc., trade unions can also make a huge contribution to economic development and national progress. They should shift their focus from demand-oriented struggles to promoting labour standards, and helping build a motivated and productive workforce to boost economic development. Among other tasks that trade unions are expected to perform is to help resolve labour disputes amicably, thereby preventing industrial unrest and disruptions to the ailing economy. Trade unions have adopted such measures in other countries, such as Japan, enabling those nations to achieve progress.

Wednesday 30th April, 2025

Two erstwhile strange bedfellows—the UNP and the JVP—are at each other’s jugular. Following the 2015 regime change, they embarked on the UNP-led Yahapalana government’s anti-corruption crusade. Their political honeymoon lasted for nearly five years.

Hardly a day passes without President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the JVP/NPP leader, taking a swipe at UNP leader and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and vice versa. After making a statement to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), on Monday, over what he had said in defence of former Chief Minister (CM) Chamara Sampath Dassanayake, who is being held on remand for alleged financial malpractices, Wickremesinghe tore into the JVP-led government for having targeted him unfairly. He went on to allege that the CIABOC had leaked information about its correspondence with him to President Dissanayake.

Wickremesinghe’s sharp rebuke of the CIABOC and the JVP/NPP can be considered as an instance of karmic forces in action. When Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister (from 2015 to 2019), he and his JVP chums including Anura Kumara ran the Yahapalana government’s Anti-Corruption Secretariat, and came under criticism for launching political witch-hunts against their political rivals.

Current Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala functioned as the head of the Anti-Corruption Secretariat. Hundreds of files on various individuals found their way into the hands of the JVP leaders, who displayed them subsequently, claiming that a future JVP government would probe all of them. They have not fulfilled that pledge. PM Wickremesinghe could not have been unaware of the unauthorised removal of files from the Anti-Corruption Secretariat. Now, he is berating the CIABOC for leaking information to the JVP/NPP!

Wickremesinghe has been critical of the CIABOC’s selective efficiency, which however is not of recent origin. The national anti-graft commission has always taken action against Opposition politicians very efficiently, as it did during the Yahapalana government. The boot is now on the other foot!

One may recall that the Yahapalana era was characterised by show arrests, as it were, and some courts were kept open until midnight for the suspects who were taken there from the CID headquarters to be remanded. However, such measures did not help bring the corrupt to justice. Maithripala Sirisena, who won the presidency in 2015, with the help of the UNP, the JVP, etc., promising to throw the Rajapaksas behind bars for corruption, joined forces with them in late 2018 for expediency, and Wickremesinghe did likewise four years later.

Interestingly, the alleged financial malpractices for which ex-CM Dassanayake has been remanded occurred during the Yahapalana government, while the JVP was running the Anti-Corruption Secretariat for all practical purposes. There were complaints against Dassanayake. Why he was not arrested at that time is the question.

The JVP/NPP has condemned Wickremesinghe for defending the corrupt. Ironically, the JVP had no qualms about defending Wickremesinghe and his UNF government although he openly shielded the perpetrators of the Treasury bond scams. The JVP was also instrumental in defeating President Sirisena’s efforts to sack theYahapalana government and dissolve Parliament in late 2018; it enabled Wickremesinghe to retain the premiership. It did so in spite of serious allegations of corruption against the UNP and Wickremesinghe. The UNP-led dysfunctional government, propped up by the JVP in Parliament, neglected national security and failed to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks (2019).

What Wickremesinghe is experiencing at the hands of the JVP can be considered his comeuppance. After securing the presidency with the help of the SLPP in 2022, he unflinchingly threw his weight behind the then Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who was accused of procurement rackets in the Health Ministry. He also defended Sri Lanka Cricket officials despite damning allegations against them, and incurred much public opprobrium, which found expression in a massive protest vote, which benefited the JVP-led NPP in last year’s elections.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to know from President Dissanayake how his government intends to deal with corruption in the cricket administration, which is the Sri Lankan version of the Augean Stables.