Saturday 3rd May, 2025

The JVP-led NPP government is quite upbeat about its massive May Day rally, which was intended to give a mega boost to its local government election campaign. Governments in power usually hold mammoth rallies to demonstrate their power. They are capable of doing so as they have the entire state machinery at their disposal and are never short of funds, which flow from various sources.

They hire thousands of buses and bring their supporters from all parts of the country to their rallies, especially the ones on May Day, the way the JVP/NPP did on Thursday. Political parties also bus hired attendees to their events, as is public knowledge. This is the name of the game in Sri Lankan politics.

Huge crowds at political rallies can be thought to reflect a surge in popular support, if at all, only when they are held by Opposition parties, like the show of strength put on by the SLPP at Galle Face in 2017, one year after its formation, during the Yahapalana government. The JVP, which was supporting the UNP-led Yahapalana administration at that time, claimed that the SLPP had bused its supporters as well as crowd fillers to Galle Face Green in their thousands.

It may be recalled that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election rallies were much bigger than those of his rival, Maithripala Sirisena, in the run-up to the 2015 presidential polls, but he suffered an ignominious defeat. Sirisena came from behind to beat Rajapaksa in the race. The JVP posted an interesting cartoon on social media to belittle the crowd sizes at Rajapaksa’s election rallies, claiming that the UPFA transported people from Mahinda’s home district, Hambantota, to his meetings across the country.

In the first panel of that cartoon, while addressing a rally at Ruwanwella, President Rajapaksa asks what the people in that area need most, and someone in the audience shouts, “A fisheries harbour”; the next panel of the cartoon shows a visibly embarrassed Mahinda grimace with a think bubble above his head reading: “Darn it! They have brought these idiots from Tangalle, again!” (To the uninitiated, Ruwanwella is a landlocked electorate while Tangalle is a coastal township.)

The UNP held a series of well-attended political events following President Sirisena’s abortive attempt to sack its government in October 2018, but it was reduced to a single National List slot in the 2020 general election.

It seems that in this country, huge parliamentary majorities are jinxed. All previous governments that secured two-thirds majorities became hugely unpopular and could not win second terms, the only exception being the J. R. Jayawardene regime which resorted to election malpractices and political violence to retain its hold on power. The SLFP-led United Front government, elected in 1970 with a two-thirds majority, lost the 1977 general election, where the UNP obtained a five-sixths majority.

The SLFP-led UPFA, which won a two-thirds majority, under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency in 2010, collapsed in 2015 owing to mass crossovers. The SLPP obtained a two-thirds majority in 2020, but its Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had to resign, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned amidst a popular uprising in 2022.

The JVP-led NPP government also has a two-thirds majority in Parliament, but it has had to campaign extremely hard in a bid to win the upcoming local government elections. It should have been in a position to defeat the twice-beaten Opposition hands down. Whether it will be able to score an impressive win again on 06 May remains to be seen.

The only way the NPP government can retain its popularity is to live up to people’s expectations and refrain from compromising on its policies and principles, which it marketed to the electorate to win elections. Having talked the talk, it now has to walk the walk. More talking will not do.

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.