Showing once again the severe aversion that exists within the public sector towards progressive reforms, a number of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL) employees, mainly those attached to trade unions within the two Institutions, decided this week to oppose the Government’s decision to permit three foreign firms, i.e. China’s Sinopec, Australia’s United Petroleum and the United States’ (US) R.M. Parks Inc, to enter Sri Lanka’s fuel retail market in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s Shell PLC by importing, storing, distributing and selling petroleum products.

These employees launched trade union actions which involved the halting of fuel distribution, which consequently created lines for fuel near fuel stations early this week. While what they opposed was clear, they did not convey any concrete reasons for that opposition. The Government’s response was sending on compulsory leave more than 20 employees of the CPC and the CPSTL, including trade union leaders, who staged the strike and withdrew from duties. As per Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, instructions have been issued to the CPC and the CPSTL Chairmen to take steps to initiate disciplinary and even legal action against those actions.

Some, including trade unions representing CPC and CPSTL employees, claim that the Government’s reaction to the said trade union actions was excessive and arbitrary. However, many ordinary citizens are of the opinion that the Government’s decision to allow foreign firms to enter Sri Lanka’s fuel retail market and also the disciplinary actions that were taken against the CPC and CPSTL employees were necessary. Regardless, these developments come in a context where the Government is on a reforming spree, with the aim of privatising or restructuring loss-making State owned Enterprises (SOEs) and in accordance with the reforms agenda it agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund. Although recent price hikes have elevated the CPC’s status to a profit making SOE, the fact that it is yet to deal with billions of debt that have accumulated in recent history has placed the CPC among the top few SOEs that are to be reformed.

The CPC became a burden to the country and remained so longer than it should have due to a multitude of reasons including short-sighted political decisions, the lack of efficiency introduced by successive Governments to the CPC, and most concerning, the widespread squandering of resources, and corruption. While we cannot blame one party in this regard, many would agree that corruption within the CPC remains one of the leading causes, if not the main one, of the CPC’s decline. Getting paid for overtime work even when there is no additional work or a requirement to work more, high-ranking CPC officials enjoying perks that could not be justified for a loss making SOE, and wasting and stealing resources, are among the most common aspects of this issue. Although these are not new issues, now that the country desperately needs reforms that could in actuality benefit it, the Government and the public have become more critical about these issues, which is one of the positive results of the economic crisis.

However, the said understanding of the critical need of progressive reforms does not seem to come from the public employees’ side. While this is not an issue that is prevalent only among the CPC or the CPSTL employees, in a context where a considerable number of CPC and CPSTL employees have become a part of the crisis that the CPC is going through, their opposition to the Government’s attempts to develop the fuel retail market is exceedingly unacceptable. Thus far, they have not pointed out any justifiable reasons for their opposition nor feasible alternatives, and their very first move with regard to the said decision was launching a strike. Therefore, if the CPC and the CPSTL employees have genuine concerns, apart from the fear of losing the freedom to use public funds and other resources as they please, they should base their opposition on that, and should not hold the country’s key SOEs to ransom for personal gain. The CPC and the CPSTL are not SOEs that could suffer losses any longer, and Sri Lanka is not at a juncture where such losses could be underestimated.