• Cite low transport allowance among others 

Citing lethargy on the part of the Government which has resulted in salary and allowance-related issues faced by Grama Niladhari (GN) officers remaining unresolved, GN officers are planning to intensify the ongoing union action.

GN officers commenced a strike on Wednesday (26), which is slated to continue until today (28). During the weekend, the officers will resort to work to rule action. If they do not receive concrete solutions by 1 July, they will make a decision to launch an indefinite strike and protests at the District level and in Colombo. 

Explaining this, GN Trade Union Alliance’s Convenor Jagath Chandralal told The Daily Morning that GN officers are being treated differently: “When it comes to officers such as Provincial Secretaries, District Secretaries, and Ministry Secretaries, who launched protests the same way that we do, their demands were given swiftly. But, when it comes to our issues, we are being deceived with promises, and no actual solutions are being given.” 

Chandralal expressed concerns that currently, GN officers are receiving as low as Rs. 600 for transport costs for a month. He added that even though several rounds of discussions have been held, the implementation of the recommended solutions and suggestions do not seem to be promising.