A socialist perspective to defend Sri Lankan university workers

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankan university workers have been in struggle against punitive actions taken by the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and university authorities. They are demanding the withdrawal of a pay cut imposed for striking and the reinstatement of workers suspended at the University of Colombo.

Non-academic workers from all of the country’s 15 universities held a one-day stopwork on June 4 to fight for these demands. Thousands picketed the office of the University Grant Commission (UGC)—the administrative authority in charge of universities. University of Colombo workers continued their stoppage and, in a bid to contain a groundswell of anger, union leaders promised to call an indefinite strike from June 11. Last Friday, however, the unions shut down all industrial action, including at the University of Colombo, promising only an ongoing campaign and future protests.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) calls upon working people to support the university workers, who are being sold out by their unions. What is at stake is the defence of basic democratic rights, including the right to strike, as well as jobs, public education and living standards. The attack on university employees is an integral part of the government’s attempts to make the working class bear the burden of its renewed communal war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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