If elected, satisfactory salary guaranteed for working people: Anura

If elected, laws would be amended so that the working people would get a satisfactory salary in line with the increasing Cost of Living Index, National Peoples’ Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday.

Addressing a convention of the working people organised by the National Trade Union Centre (NTUC), he said steps would be taken to stop manpower recruitments and filling permanent vacancies on a contract basis.

“We will ensure that all graduates will be employed productively in the government service and also address the issue of salary anomalies in the government service with care,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake said he would assure to reintroduce the pension scheme which was abolished for the newly recruited government employees.

“Those engaged in self-employment are left without any social protection when they are old. We will initiate a programme to take care of them as well,” he said.

He said that working people had been inconvenienced due to the inefficient public transport system and assured to establish an efficient public transport system.

Mr. Dissanayake said this country could be developed easily and added that there was no magician to do it. “Collective effort is needed to develop the country. An individual cannot do it. All the countries in the world have been developed through a collective process. The contribution of uncorrupt political leadership, professionals and working people are needed for that," he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)