Pension Pause

Friday, 3 June 2011 02:28 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

The Government yesterday refused to be shaken by the trade union protests against the Pension Bill for the private sector, insisting that it would achieve its goal, but conceded that it would be through a different format.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the media at the weekly Cabinet briefing that the current Pension Bill had been withdrawn from Parliament by Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge. However, he insisted that since the plan for a private sector pension bill is included in the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ and therefore the Government could introduce a new Bill to achieve this.

“The Government is dedicated to providing a pension for the seven million odd workers of the private sector. The procedure for achieving this goal can change, but the goal will not,” he said, adding that the withdrawn Bill was the first means to achieve this end.

“We were not transparent enough with this Bill,” he admitted, observing that more awareness needed to be created for the workers to understand its aims. Creating a better discussion platform for a future Bill was assured by him and he insisted that the workers in the Free Trade Zones (FTZs) had overreacted due to the instigation of “some extreme elements”.

Reviewing the events of the past few days that saw clashes between thousands of workers and Police, which culminated in the resignation of the Police Chief, arrests of two Policemen and the death of a protestor, Rambukwella put the blame on the JVP as inciting the workers “when there was no need”.

“The Government listened to the suggestions of the stakeholders and agreed to make a fresh draft of the Bill. There was no move to rush it through Parliament. When the FTZ workers went on strike, I personally made sure that the news of their exemption from the Bill was conveyed to them. Yet they instigated a clash, making it clear that they were incited by another group.”

Berating the JVP further, the Minister maintained that preserving law and order was the objective of the Government and that the investigations would continue. As evidence of this, he pointed out that this was the first time that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had resigned over the death of a demonstrator.