Railway strike continues to cripple train services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The United Alliance of Railway Trade Unions (UARTU) said Saturday that it would continue its strike, which was originally launched for forty-eight hours with out a break till their demands are met. Meanwhile entire train services in the island have ground to a halt since Tuesday midnight.

The two-hour's discussion held Saturday evening between UARTU representatives and Transport Ministry officials to find a settlement ended without a consensus, each side accusing the other side for the failure, railway sources said.

Railway Authority Chairman Mr.Hemachandra Manatunge said an agreement has been reached with the UARTU delegation at the Saturday discussion but the delegation had refused to give a written assurance that it would suspend their strike till the end of this month enabling the railway authority to implement the decisions agreed upon, sources said.

Mr.Manathunge further said he would not implement the decisions agreed at the conference held Saturday until a written assurance is submitted by the UARTU.

However UARTU spokesman Mr.Sampath Rajitha said that at the discussion held Saturday ministry officials did not agree for a salary increase and other vital demands of the alliance. Hence the UARTU decided to continue the strike, sources said