Railway strike: Night mails cancelled

All the night mail trains leaving to Badulla, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Palai and return trains have been cancelled due to the planned trade union action by the Professional Railway Trade Union Alliance (PRTUA) from midnight today, Raiway Control Room said.

PRTUA said today it would resort to an island wide strike action from midnight because the authorities had failed to fulfill their demands.

PRTUA President Janaka Fernando said almost all the railway professionals such as locomotive engineers, controllers, guards and station masters had extended their support in the trade union action.

The PRTUA had demanded including an increase in their basic salary from Rs. 15, 005 to Rs. 16, 350, Mr. Fernando said.

“We have requested the authorities to resolve our issues for about three years. We have even written to the President and President’s Secretary with regard to our issues. We had a meeting with authorities on August 15 and requested them to provide solutions within two weeks. They said that our demands would be forwarded to the Salaries Commission and get the approval of the Cabinet but we did not get any positive response,” he said.

Mr. Fernando said train services in the country may be crippled due to the strike and they would not take responsibility for the situation.(Ajith Siriwardana and Sanath Desmond)