Railway gatekeepers to boycott work against poor pay conditions

The Railway gatekeepers in the North and East of Sri Lanka are paid a pittance of 250LKR per day. This is not sufficient even for an individual’s breakfast in the current economic crisis. Now, they have decided to boycott work for two days demanding implementation of their various demands including standard living wages needed for sustaining livelihood.

This boycott started at 6 AM on Thursday (4) the day President Ranil Wickremesinghe is visiting the Northern Province and will continue till 6 AM on Saturday (6). During their 48-hour protest their association president has appealed to the public to be careful while using the railway crossings.

“We have been working for the past 11 years without proper wages. 2064 employees are working under the police control in these railway crossings as gatekeepers” Rohan Rajkumar, the association president told media people at the Mullaitivu Press Club on Wednesday (3).

An employee just gets paid 250LKR per day he told the presspersons. Additionally, he further said the work boycott was to draw the attention of the President during his three-day visit to the North to release them from the bonded labour of the Police and to seek proper wages to meet their livelihood.

“We are taking forward this boycott of work to let President Ranil Wickremesinghe know when he visits the North from 4-6th to release us from the bonded labour of the Police”

The gatekeeper’s association has also warned that they will take forward strong industrial action if their demands including granting of proper wages are not met and their jobs are not made permanent under the Railway department.