By Umesh Moramudali
The Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) president Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri said that there is no turning back in the ongoing strike of university lecturers, till the government takes steps to grant their demands.
He made this observation addressing a media briefing in Colombo .
Addressing the media, he said that the government thinks that we will give up the strike as the government extending the issue without paying salaries to university lectures, but that will not happen.
“It is now 65 days since we began our strike, yet the government has not taken steps to give a proper solution,” the FUTA president charged.
Expressing his views regarding President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s statement, that as a policy he does not discuss with people who involve in strikes and is ready to discuss with the FUTA if they come after calling off the strike, the FUTA president said, “Policies can be there but they have to be ethical. We informed the President regarding our issues in April 2012,”
He claimed that the FUTA will not call off the strike till the government comes to an agreement with them.
When a question was raised by a journalist regarding the discussions the FUTA had with Secretary to the Treasury, Dr. P.B. Jayasundara, Dr. Dewasiri said that the Secretary to the Treasury responded to their issues in a fair way and he did not want to make this issue more complicated.
“Dr. P.B. Jayasundara did understand our issues and but words are not enough. The government needs to provide us with an acceptable assurance,” he said.
“We might lose but we won’t surrender,” the FUTA president said.
Addressing the media the FUTA Media Spokesman, Dr. Mahim Mendis said that government needs to speak in one voice regarding this problem.
“When we discuss regarding our issues with various people from the government they express various ideas. They should speak in one voice,” he added.
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