Railway station masters to continue with strike as talks fail

Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters’ Union says that they will proceed with their trade union action as discussions held today with the General Manager of Railways were unsuccessful. 

President of the association Sumedha Somaratne said that the discussion was held this morning (27) with regard to their demands. 

The Railway Station Masters’ Union had initially decided to launch a strike from midnight yesterday (26), however they decided to temporarily postpone it until after talks with relevant authorities today. 

The association had said a final decision regarding the trade union action would be taken following the meeting today and warned they would resort to an indefinite strike if positive responses are not received for their demands.

The railway station masters were planning to engage in union action based on 10 demands including the granting of coverage allowances if promotions cannot be given and the calculation of overtime for them under the same system used to calculate overtime for engine drivers.