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| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
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TUs welcome Budget Country's Trade Union sector yesterday welcomed the UPFA's maiden budget as a historic one but expressed their concern over the increase into the number of working hours. They said "increasing number of working hours to nine hours is against the conventions of the International Labour Organisation". General Secretary of the Ceylon Federation of Trade Union D.W.Subasinghe yesterday commended the UPFA first budget as a historic one as it is the first home grown budget prepared without the clutches of the IMF and the World Bank. Subasinghe noted that the Government servants who were expecting a relief for a long time immensely benefited from this budget as they were given an insurance, housing loan and a pay hike. "But private sector employees did not receive anything. If the oil price goes up again that will increase the cost of living heaping burden on the working class. We are planning to negotiate and increase the minimum wages of the Wages Board", he said. It is also commendable to give housing loans at concessionary rates for expatriates to build a house of their own, he concluded. General Secretary of the CMU Bala Tampoe said that it is useless if the Government prints money and then give the pay hike. There are 6.5 million people in the working class. Among them only 0.5 million are the Government servants. If the Government pay the increased pay hike by printing money will reduce the real value of money, not only affecting the government servants but also the entire six million in the working class. Majority of the workers in the private sector are earning between Rs.4000 to Rs.6000 only. They should be given a pay hike to cope up with the cost of living, he added. General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya Leslie Devendra said overall it was a good budget. He said "We are not 100% happy of the pay hike but thank the Government for increase salaries. In addition, the Government has taken many positive steps from the Budget to take the country forward". Devendra noted that when giving jobs to unemployed youth they should be employed productively. Otherwise, they will be a burden on the economy. Increasing the working hours will not be advisable because the overheads of the Government institutions such as telephone, electricity and water bills will also increase. What the Government should do is not to increase the working hours but increase the productivity of the Government servants. General Secretary of the Ceylon Federation of Labour S.Siriwardane described the budget as a pleasing budget for the working class. He said that the common man had received many benefits more than any other budget in the past. In addition, poor man was provided a VAT cut on the essential items is commendable. Patron of the United Federation of Labour Dr.Vickramabahu Karunaratne said that the first budget of the UPFA shows that the Finance Minister has struggled to work within the limits placed by the JVP. But due to the shortcomings in the peace process, the Government failed to mobilise foreign funds. He said that Dr. Amunugama has produced a social populist budget. What else could we expect from a classical bourgeoisie liberal working under the dictates of Wimal Weerawansa the leader of the Desha Hithesi Peramuna. He said that the biggest failure of the budget is that the working class not only expected a pay hike but also expected a regulatory mechanism to control the prices of essential goods. |
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