SLT employees to go on strike against Chairman’s malpractices  

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC’s (SLT) management is now in dire straits after its chairman P.G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena, the younger brother of president Maithripala Sirisena, had provided benefits and privileges to corrupt officials, trade union leaders alleged.

They claimed that Mr. Kumarasinghe has not taken any decision to punish corrupt officials even though a year has lapsed since receiving the report of a 3 member committee headed by retired Appeal Court judge, N. Sunil Rajapaksha which was appointed to inquire into alleged malpractices and irregularities at the company since 2008.

'Protect Sri Lanka Telecom Front' noted that The SLT chairman has cut the benefits of employees including their annual increments while spending millions of rupees for Tamashas in luxury hotels.  

One such event was at a luxury Nuwaraeliya hotel held recently under the guise of an official meeting to prepare the company's annual corporate plan, trade union leaders said. 

The 3 member committee has investigated as to whether there has been any drop in the company's financial performance since 2011 and if so, it will probe the contributory factors and responsible officers.

The committee has also probed into malpractices, irregularities or failures in strategy formulation, operational planning and implementation to face market competition.

SLT's profit margin is expected to dilute over 2018-2020 period, as improving profitability on fixed-broadband and mobile internet usage will only partly offset margin dilution from a falling share of profitable fixed-voice and international operations, analysts said. 

Under this set up, Protect Sri Lanka Telecom Front will stage a one day token strike in all telecom branches countrywide including its headquarters on January 16.

If the authorities fail to rectify the number of anomalies in the present system, trade union action could intensify that would paralyze telecom services throughout the island, president of the front Jagath Gurusinghe said in a media release.