New deal between govt., Maxis

Telecom unions threaten legal action if demands not met

By Santhush Fernando
Telecom trade unions will take both legal and trade union action if their conditions are not incorporated in the new agreement entered into between the Government and Malaysian telecom giant Maxis.
President of the apex body of telecom unions- Sri Lanka Telecom Trade Unions Alliance, G. Anura Perera told The Nation that he was discussing this with his attorneys and was considering filing writ application and fundamental rights petition in Court of Appeal and Supreme Court respectively, in his capacity as a share holder.
Mr. Perera whose services had been terminated arbitrarily 19 months back for lodging a complaint against the Telecom management with the Bribery Commission, said that all trade unions have agreed in principle to commence trade union action if government fails to take heed of the ten conditions laid by the trade unions.
Trade Union Alliance had submitted its ten-point request to Chairman of the Evaluation Committee appointed to formulate a new agreement to replace the existing one which was entered into by the Government and NTT of Japan with the privatization of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).
The trade unions allege that the existing agreement was highly favourable to NTT as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was vested with unlimited dictatorial powers.
The new agreement should pose no threat to security, territorial integrity and the unitary nature of Sri Lanka, not cause any injustice to the consumer or employees, not grant any privilege or specialty to any ethnicity during recruitment and promotions and independent auditing be conducted by the Auditor General, the letter submitted by trade unions stipulate.
The ten-point letter further states that in the event any employee is being subjected to discrimination, the government should be deemed liable and should remedy the injustice. Further 2% of shares should be allocated to employees and the management agreement should be renewed once every three years.
The trade unions also insisted that a Special Presidential Commission be appointed to inquire into discrepancies which are said to have taken place during the NTT management and that the employees, share holders and consumers be entitled to appear before it.
The money transfer of the Telecom deal has already taken place although the government is yet to finalise the agreement subject to green light from the feasibility report and reports submitted by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Attorney General, unions said.
Furthermore the trade unions said they were not against the buyout by Anandakrishnan of Maxis provided that the deal would not pose a threat to national security.
However if the deal had been conducted in a more transparent manner it would have fetched a better buyer and a better deal, the unions charged.
Meanwhile, the JVP allied Telecom trade unions which objected vehemently against the deal earlier, were silent on it now.
When inquired by The Nation, a JVP trade union spokesman said that however they still objected to Maxis deal as it posed a threat to the security of the country and added that they were not part of the Sri Lanka Telecom Trade Union Alliance.

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