By Lakna Paranamanna
Teacher unions yesterday threatened to launch a series of trade union action that would heavily impact the education sector if the Education Ministry and the relevant officials fail to resolve the longstanding salary anomaly of teachers. At a joint media briefing held by the All Lanka United Teachers Union (ALUTU), Association of Education Professionals (AEP) and the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU), the complaining teacher union representatives gave an ultimatum to the Education Ministry Secretary to grant an effective solution to their salary issues at the scheduled meeting by July 19.
“The salary anomaly of teachers has remained unresolved for the past 15 years. None of the governments in power granted an effective solution to the issue. The present Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena has been making snide comments about teacher trade unions and mocking at our demands.
This is a clear indication that he is not interested in providing solutions to our problems,” AEP Convener Wasantha Dharmasiri told the media. Meanwhile, CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin who also spoke at the media briefing said they expected the Education Ministry to implement the interim salary proposal which was approved by former Education Minister Susil Premajayantha as a solution to the teachers’ salary anomaly in 2008.
