Postal services to launch 24-hour strike tonight

Colombo, June 12 (Daily Mirror) - The United Postal Trade Unions Front (UPTUF) is set to launch a 24-hour trade union action from tonight due to the failure to fill more than 6,000 existing vacancies in the postal service.

UPTUF convener Chinthaka Bandara informed the Daily Mirror that no recruitments have been made to any grades in the postal sector since 2018.

"At least 500 people are working as acting service officers across the country, including in sub post offices, and nearly 1,200 are serving as acting duty officers. However, no decision has been made to permanently appoint the acting staff members so far," he said.

Some employees have worked for nearly 15 years in acting positions, and some have exceeded the maximum age limit of 45 for recruitment into government service.

Therefore, demanding the government and responsible authorities to address the aforementioned issues, including the inability to continue in service and to recruit officers to existing vacancies, the UPTUF has decided to initiate a 24-hour trade union action starting tonight. 

The Union has stated that they anticipate a favourable response by June 24. If the government fails to respond, the union has declared its intention to escalate the action into an island-wide continuous strike.