Electricity TUs to continue their strike as talks with authorities end in deadlock

Several electricity trade unions in Sri Lanka have declared that they will keep striking due to unresolved demands. This decision was made after talks with the management of the newly formed organizations, following the restructuring of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), did not succeed, according to a union representative. About 25 trade unions chose to stop all services for 24 hours starting yesterday. Prabath Priyantha, the General Secretary of CEB’s Sri Lanka Nidahas Sewaka Samgamaya, mentioned that the strike was initiated because the government did not respond positively to the requests from electricity workers. He added that employees will not return to work until there is a discussion after reviewing the collective agreement. Prabath Priyantha also noted that they decided to keep power plants and other critical operations running. However, he indicated that all repair and maintenance work will be paused.