By Rathindra Kuruwita

 

Members of the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) would meet this Friday (1) to decide on future trade union action, a spokesperson for the union said.

It is quite likely that they will decide not to attend to any breakdowns after office hours and on holidays under any circumstances after Friday’s Special General Meeting.

 

“Our Executive Committee met on May 25 and decided to call a Special General Meeting convening all members to discuss the current developments and to decide on future trade union action. There is a high probability to make a decision at the meeting not to attend to any breakdowns after office hours and on holidays under any circumstances. If that happens, no guarantees can be given to the stability of the power system of the country,” he said.

 

Although the Union commenced a work-to-rule campaign on May 08, the engineers continued to restore electricity and carryout maintenance taking into account the disaster situation of the country. “Even though we did not carry out our normal duties after 4.15 PM on working days, we attended to major breakdowns to prevent long drawn out power outages. We did this because there is a high risk of complete power failure, if we did not attend a breakdown of a major transmission line or major power plant,” he said.

 

The spokesperson said that although the government had promised to solve the issues raised by the union, two of the main demands had not been fulfilled. These were granting approval to the Least Cost Long Term Generation Expansion Plan (LCLTGEP) 2018-2037 and appointing ‘professionals with highest integrity and unblemished record to key posts in the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL).

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