Postal workers back
Postal workers yesterday morning called off the five-day old 'work to rule' campaign after 10 hours of lengthy discussions with authorities winning 19 demands.
They were on 'work to rule' since September 26 and started negotiations with the authorities at 6.00 pm on Friday and concluded discussions on a satisfactory note at 4.30 pm yesterday morning. About a million letters including presidential election related letters were in postal bags unsorted and left idling in post offices, mail exchanges and central mail exchanges.
However, union members agreed to clear all the delayed mail in two days. Authorities agreed to grant a special overtime payment for them to clear the backlog.
Nine unions took to the 'work to rule' campaign refusing to work overtime which resulted in the collection of loads of postal sacks in mail exchanges and post offices islandwide.
Postal workers were pushed to work to rule as a result of the Postal Department and the Ministry failing to attend to their routine administrative work.
Post and Telecommunication Ministry Secretary Piyatissa Ranasinghe agreed to heed to the 19 demands before mid October, Union of Post and Telecommunication Officers' General Secretary K. S. Weerasekara told the Sunday Observer.
Accordingly, the Ministry will fill 49 vacant Chief Postmaster posts, 333 Grade 1 Postmaster posts, 7 Deputy Postmaster General Posts, 28 Divisional Superintendent posts, 28 Regional Administrative Officers posts, gazette competitive exams for internal promotions, grant salary anomalies for class I and II postmasters, minor staff salary increments, reinstate interdicted officers, etc.
Authorities also agreed to provide 10,000 bicycles for postmen without deducting the cost from their salaries. After five years, postmen will own these bicycles, Weerasekara said.
In addition, the authorities also agreed to fill about 5,000 vacancies in the department with Graduate trainees.
EU ban : No impact on peace facilitation
The European Union travel ban on the LTTE will not impact on the role of the Norwegian peace facilitators, a Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman said.
"We are not party to the declaration...The ban will not have any impact on us," Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman Kjersti Tromsdal told the Sunday Observer.
Norway is not a member state of the European Union.
"Our role remains unchanged," she said adding Norwegians would resume peace diplomacy once Oslo finalises its coalition government.
Former Head of the Mission of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Trond Furuhovde will visit the island, as scheduled, in the middle of this month to consult the government and the LTTE on reviewing the Ceasefire Agreement. The 25 nation European Union last Tuesday announced a travel ban on the LTTE delegations visiting the member states, while threatening a complete ban on the Tigers.
"The EU is actually considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. In the meantime, the EU has agreed that with immediate effect, the delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any EU member states until further notice".
The EU declaration further stated that the member states would take national measures to curb illegal activities, including fund-raising and propaganda by LTTE front organisations and individual supporters.
Meanwhile, thousands of people thronged into Jaffna University grounds on Friday, in an LTTE organised Pongu Tamil (Tamil Resurgence) festival, declaring the right to self-determination as non-negotiable and denouncing the EU ban as one sided punitive action.
The government on Friday said the EU ban would help break the deadlock in the negotiations and would facilitate and not complicate the peace process
"We do not think the EU ban will in anyway be a hindrance to the peace process, Cabinet Spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva told the weekly Cabinet briefing.
Postal workers yesterday morning called off the five-day old 'work to rule' campaign after 10 hours of lengthy discussions with authorities winning 19 demands.
They were on 'work to rule' since September 26 and started negotiations with the authorities at 6.00 pm on Friday and concluded discussions on a satisfactory note at 4.30 pm yesterday morning. About a million letters including presidential election related letters were in postal bags unsorted and left idling in post offices, mail exchanges and central mail exchanges.
However, union members agreed to clear all the delayed mail in two days. Authorities agreed to grant a special overtime payment for them to clear the backlog.
Nine unions took to the 'work to rule' campaign refusing to work overtime which resulted in the collection of loads of postal sacks in mail exchanges and post offices islandwide.
Postal workers were pushed to work to rule as a result of the Postal Department and the Ministry failing to attend to their routine administrative work.
Post and Telecommunication Ministry Secretary Piyatissa Ranasinghe agreed to heed to the 19 demands before mid October, Union of Post and Telecommunication Officers' General Secretary K. S. Weerasekara told the Sunday Observer.
Accordingly, the Ministry will fill 49 vacant Chief Postmaster posts, 333 Grade 1 Postmaster posts, 7 Deputy Postmaster General Posts, 28 Divisional Superintendent posts, 28 Regional Administrative Officers posts, gazette competitive exams for internal promotions, grant salary anomalies for class I and II postmasters, minor staff salary increments, reinstate interdicted officers, etc.
Authorities also agreed to provide 10,000 bicycles for postmen without deducting the cost from their salaries. After five years, postmen will own these bicycles, Weerasekara said.
In addition, the authorities also agreed to fill about 5,000 vacancies in the department with Graduate trainees.
EU ban : No impact on peace facilitation
The European Union travel ban on the LTTE will not impact on the role of the Norwegian peace facilitators, a Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman said.
"We are not party to the declaration...The ban will not have any impact on us," Norwegian Embassy spokeswoman Kjersti Tromsdal told the Sunday Observer.
Norway is not a member state of the European Union.
"Our role remains unchanged," she said adding Norwegians would resume peace diplomacy once Oslo finalises its coalition government.
Former Head of the Mission of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Trond Furuhovde will visit the island, as scheduled, in the middle of this month to consult the government and the LTTE on reviewing the Ceasefire Agreement. The 25 nation European Union last Tuesday announced a travel ban on the LTTE delegations visiting the member states, while threatening a complete ban on the Tigers.
"The EU is actually considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. In the meantime, the EU has agreed that with immediate effect, the delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any EU member states until further notice".
The EU declaration further stated that the member states would take national measures to curb illegal activities, including fund-raising and propaganda by LTTE front organisations and individual supporters.
Meanwhile, thousands of people thronged into Jaffna University grounds on Friday, in an LTTE organised Pongu Tamil (Tamil Resurgence) festival, declaring the right to self-determination as non-negotiable and denouncing the EU ban as one sided punitive action.
The government on Friday said the EU ban would help break the deadlock in the negotiations and would facilitate and not complicate the peace process
"We do not think the EU ban will in anyway be a hindrance to the peace process, Cabinet Spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva told the weekly Cabinet briefing.
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