- Trade unions warn of action
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has yet to announce an official date for its restructuring, even as the final stage of it being unbundled into four State-owned entities is underway, CEB General Manager K.S.I. Kumara has confirmed.
The uncertainty has sparked concern among Trade Unions (TUs) over employee protections and prompted warnings of potential industrial action.
Last week, TUs threatened union action as an appointed date is yet to be confirmed and policies to protect employee stability remain unclear.
An official of the CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) stated that although draft versions of Human Resources (HR) and other policies had been tailored to protect them, they were yet to receive a finalised version of such policies.
Additionally, the official noted that while it was requested that 1 February – which had been previously communicated – be officially declared the appointed date, the documentation to issue the gazette notification pertaining to its declaration was yet to be sent to the Cabinet of Ministers with no concrete plan on moving forward observable at present.
Accordingly, 24 electricity TUs, including the CEBEU, Technical Engineers and Officers’ Association, and Industrial Technicians’ Association, are gearing up to launch further strike action, even though a final decision on the nature of the strike is yet to be made.
The initial work-to-rule strike action carried out last year had been suspended on the basis of written confirmation of verbal agreement to their demands received by the TUs, the official continued, although further clarity on the status of the agreed policies had not been offered thereafter.
When contacted by The Sunday Morning, CEB General Manager Kumara affirmed that the necessary steps to complete the restructuring of the State-owned utility supplier by the tentative date of 1 February were being taken, with the final stage of the process presently underway.
He added that the issues and concerns raised regarding the draft policies were between the TUs and the Ministry of Energy.
Speaking on the matter, Ministry of Energy Secretary Prof. Udayanga Hemapala told The Sunday Morning that the enactment of policies such as that of an HR policy safeguarding employees did not have to compulsorily be ready by the appointed date, but rather after the establishment of the companies.
“According to the law, after the company has been established, the policy should be constructed and submitted to the Cabinet,” he opined.
Having been enforced in August, the new Electricity Act restructured the CEB into four separate State-Owned Entities (SOE). As such, employees of the board were given the opportunity to apply for the transfer to one of the four companies, with those unwilling to transfer allowed voluntary retirement through the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).
As an official announcement regarding the date of the CEB’s dissolution remained absent, a group of employees who had applied for the VRS wrote to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake with the request that the appointed date be gazetted without further delay. The letter notes the finalisation of the necessary arrangements to declare the date, with the only remaining step being the issuing of the gazette notification.
However, the appointed date, referring to the day the CEB will be unbundled into the separate entities under the new Electricity Act, is yet to be officially confirmed.