“We have to point out that your Government has manifestly failed to make good the promise of a better life for the people of this country, that you made at the Presidential election held on January 26, 2010, following the complete military defeat of the LTTE in the previous year. On the contrary, you have now declared that the new system of electricity tariffs had to be imposed in order to avoid a collapse of this country’s economy! In seems, therefore, that you require the masses of the working people to make up for the ‘losses’ of 150 billion rupees by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board, that the Resident Representative of the IMF has declared to be ‘hidden in the balance sheets of the Bank of Ceylon and the Peoples’ Bank’, and not shown in the central government budget. Your Cabinet Ministers and other supporters of your Presidential regime, however, continue to sing the praises of ‘Mahinda Chintana’, from which they derive all kinds of benefits.” Bala Tampoe, General Secretary of the General Worker’s Union (CMU) wrote to the President yesterday.

Bala Tampoe

In his letter he said; “Even if your assessment of the present crisis in the economy is correct, our Union considers that there is no justification whatsoever for the imposition of the new electricity tariffs on the working people, to make up for your Government’s incapacity to resolve the economic crisis, for which it is largely responsible, while mismanagement and wholesale corruption continues to prevail in State corporations and in all kinds of State enterprises and projects, and public funds are freely expended on ostentatious but manifestly worthless schemes.”

We publish below the letters in full.

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The President Mahinda Rajapakse

Office of the President

Colombo.

Dear Mr. President,

CMU STRIKE IN PROTEST AGAINST IMPOSITION OF INCREASED ELECTRICITY TARIFFS

We wish to inform you that the members of branches of our Union in industrial and commercial establishments will strike today, in solidarity with the members of a group of several other unions that have informed our Union of their joint decision to strike today. Their and our strikes will be in protest against the new system of electricity tariffs, imposed as from 20^th April last, and as revised. The strikes will also be in support of the common demand for the complete withdrawal of the greatly increased tariffs, having regard to the unbearably heavy impact that they will have upon the living costs of the masses of the working people of this country.

We have to point out that your Government has manifestly failed to make good the promise of a better life for the people of this country, that you made at the Presidential election held on 26^th January 2010, following the complete military defeat of the LTTE in the previous year. On the contrary, you have now declared that the new system of electricity tariffs had to be imposed in order to avoid a collapse of this country’s economy! In seems, therefore, that you require the masses of the working people to make up for the “losses” of 150 billion rupees by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board, that the Resident Representative of the IMF has declared to be “hidden in the balance sheets of the Bank of Ceylon and the Peoples’ Bank”, and not shown in the central government budget. Your Cabinet Ministers and other supporters of your Presidential regime, however, continue to sing the praises of “Mahinda Chintana”, from which they derive all kinds of benefits.

Even if your assessment of the present crisis in the economy is correct, our Union considers that there is no justification whatsoever for the imposition of the new electricity tariffs on the working people, to make up for your Government’s incapacity to resolve the economic crisis, for which it is largely responsible, while mismanagement and wholesale corruption continues to prevail in State corporations and in all kinds of State enterprises and projects, and public funds are freely expended on ostentatious but manifestly worthless schemes.

We maintain that state subsidies for essential public services are necessary to maintain mass living standards at socially acceptable levels, and to compensate for fluctuations in world market prices of petroleum, which is essential for the supply of electricity and transport at moderate costs. At the same time, our Union stands firmly opposed to subsidizing manifest corruption and mismanagement in the two state corporations directly responsible for their supply, by making the working people to pay for their losses by increases in electricity tariffs and transport costs.

Since you know that our Union is a completely independent and democratic organization of workers, with a proud history of struggle in the defense of the rights and living standards of the working people of our country, we think it would be well advised for you to consider what we have stated herein, in the context of the present situation in this country. We accordingly enclose herewith a copy of a resolution adopted by the 32^nd Delegates’ Conference of our Union on 8^th December 2012 in that regard, for your consideration.

Yours faithfully,

THE CEYLON MERCANTILE, INDUSTRIAL

AND GENERAL WORKERS’ UNION (CMU)

Bala Tampoe

General Secretary

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THE CEYLON MERCANTILE, INDUSTRIAL AND GENERAL WORKERS’ UNION (CMU)

32ND DELEGATES’ CONFERENCE – 7TH & 8TH DECEMBER 2012

Resolution adopted by the Delegates’ Conference:

The CMU 32^nd Delegates’ Conference takes note of the following features of the situation in which the Union is today:-

The situation is one of increasing social unrest throughout the country under Mahinda Rajapakse’s Executive Presidency, two years after it was extended for a further six-year period in November 2010, and 3 ½ years after the LTTE was completely defeated militarily and destroyed by the State forces in May 2009.

The steep war-time increase in inflation, and the resulting increase in the cost of living continues, with increasing hardships for the working people, and strikes or threats of strikes on pay demands, mostly in the public sector,.

The recently ended and unprecedented general strike of academic staffs in all the country’s universities, for 3 full months, was on a demand for increased salaries. At the same time focused national attention on the crisis in State education with a demand for the State to provide adequate funds for free education at all levels. This crisis has been further illustrated by a token strike of teachers in State schools, mainly on pay demands.

The burden of coping with the high cost of living is aggravated for millions of working parents by their having to sacrifice considerable portions of their incomes to provide for the education of their children. They are constrained to meet demands of school authorities in State schools for contributions to supplement inadequate State funding for buildings, equipment and extra-curricular activities. This makes a mockery of so-called Free State Education.

Likewise, the ‘free’ Health Services in overcrowded State hospitals require purchase of medicines and drugs for patients for whom they are prescribed. This is an additional burden on working people.

This Delegates’ Conference further notes with grave concern that the Government has failed so far to take any effective action to prevent the spread of severe kidney diseases particularly in the North Central & Eastern Provinces, due to contamination of the water supplies of the people by poisonous chemicals in pesticides and fertilizers use for agricultural purposes.

State road transport services are now supplemented to a substantial extent by private bus services and tens of thousands of three-wheel taxis, throughout the country, during the daytime. These services are woefully inadequate outside urban areas even then. Workers are seriously handicapped in relation to transport after working overtime, or for recreational activities or trade union and other social activities due to lack of transport after nightfall.

The Mahinda Rajapakse regime shows little regard for the hardships of the working people, though social unrest is increasing in this situation. Greatly enlarged ‘Security Services’ are at its command, to suppress mass protests by armed force, whenever the Regime so requires. The President also has political control of Parliament, in addition to his control of the Armed Services, with more than a two-thirds majority of members of Parliament, completely subservient to him. Most of them are Ministers or Deputy Ministers, with the privileges and profits they derive from serving him in those capacities.

This has enabled President Rajapakse to make legislation as he wants, including amendments to the Constitution, like the infamous 18^th Amendment. That has rendered him and his family members and collaborators impervious to public and even international criticism, as he has thereby removed even the limited checks on the powers and privileges of the Executive Presidency, under the Constitution that JR Jayawardene made, using the huge majority that the UNP won under his leadership in the General Election of 1977.

Control of the State media and intimidation of editors and even murders of journalists in the private media have served the Mahinda Rajapakse regime to keep most of the population in ignorance of its misdeeds and misrule, or to mislead them as to whatever opposition manifests itself in that regard. The State media are also used continually to paint rosy pictures of much publicised schemes for infra-structure development, that are financed by huge foreign loans – to cover up the worsening working and living conditions of the majority of the people.

What cannot be easily covered up is the increase in all kinds of violent crime, like murder, rape and robbery, with increasing numbers of criminal gangs linked with or under the protection of powerful politicians. Huge frauds in public institutions, and increasing sale of drugs, even to school children, are crimes committed in that connection, that are revealed by news of arrests and prosecutions of those involved.

Unprecedented corruption and luxury life-styles of capitalists and their henchmen, and even criminals, go hand in hand, in sharp contrast to poverty and misery amongst the working people. This is evident not only amongst the Tamil-speaking (Tamil and Muslim) people living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, who are still subject to military occupation and repression, but also amongst the predominantly Sinhala-speaking majority of the population in the rest of the country.

It is necessary for our Union to deal with the problems and issues that confront our members and the working people generally in this situation. This requires a proper understanding of its economic and political realities. It is also necessary that the Union’s leadership and its Branch leaderships should explain the true character of the Rajapakse Regime to the Union’s membership. The current thinly-veiled attack on the judiciary, and even open disregard of the Supreme Court, by the Government’s supporters in and outside Parliament, are striking evidence of the ending of all semblance of democratic rule in this country. This is being done in the name of the people.

This Delegates’ Conference accordingly resolves to collaborate with other workers’ organisations and sections of the working people, as well as other social groups that see the need to build a mass movement in defence of the human and democratic rights of our people, as well as their living standards, in the present situation.

Sgd: Bala Tampoe

General Secretary

No.3, 22^nd Lane 3.

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21^st May 2013

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga

Secretary to the President

Presidential Secretariat

Colombo.

Dear Sir,

CMU STRIKE IN PROTEST AGAINST IMPOSITION OF INCREASED ELECTRICITY TARIFFS

We enclose herewith a letter of date, addressed to President Mahinda Rajapakse, on the above subject, with an attached copy of a resolution adopted by the 32^nd Delegates’ Conference of our Union on 8^th December 2012, for submission to the President.

We shall be glad if you will kindly acknowledge receipt of this letter and the enclosures, and act accordingly, as you have been good enough to do previously.

Yours faithfully.

THE CEYLON MERCANTILE, INDUSTRIAL

AND GENERAL WORKERS’ UNION (CMU) General Secretary

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