Colombo: Sri Lankan president has banned strikes in the health and electricity sectors as trade union action that has crippled state-run hospitals for the sixth day. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invoked a 1979 law prohibiting stoppages in the two sectors, declaring all related work “essential public services,” his office said.
The tough regulations allow courts to hand down five-year jail terms and confiscate the assets of those refusing work. The move followed health unions ignoring a court order instructing them to suspend their strike pending a hearing of a petition against their action.
The health care unions said that they are still in consultation with their lawyers to try and figure out what the implications are of this latest act brought by the president.
Sri Lanka is in the grip of a foreign exchange crisis that has crippled the economy, and the unions are demanding better promotional prospects, restructuring of their pay scales and higher allowances.
The government has refused, saying the current economic situation does not allow it to increase the salaries.
