MELBOURNE — Lionel Bopage, the former general secretary of Sri Lanka's People's Liberation Front (JVP) party, told a September 5 meeting hosted by Australia-Asia Worker Links that hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan workers had taken industrial action for pay increases this year.
In March and April, 300,000 government employees went on strike, demanding a 65% pay rise. Some private sector workers also joined in. In July, port workers held a go-slow for eight days, defying two court orders and a threat to use the navy to take over a container terminal.
According to Bopage, the government is unable to solve Sri Lanka's deepening economic and social crisis, and is whipping up "communal fear and hatred" to divide the working class on ethnic and religious lines. It is also preparing to introduce military conscription for the escalating war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north and east of the island.
Socialist Party member Anthony Main told the forum that Sri Lanka's United Socialist Party, together with other parties and non-government organisations, is campaigning for an end to the war. The USP supports the right of national self-determination for the Tamil-speaking people of north-eastern Sri Lanka.
Chris Slee