The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said that the secretary was intimidating the whole state sector by sending his appeal on official headed stationary of the president’s office.
“I will be encouraging everybody in the president’s office to participate in this task,” said Dr P B Jayasundara in the letter sent out to heads of state institutions on 5 May requesting government employees to contribute their May pay check or part of it.
He said that the government requires at least 100 billion rupees every month to pay salaries and allowances to the public sector.
Asking state employees to donate their only income while the government is receiving foreign funds and the oil prices have dropped is unacceptable, said CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin.
The union leader fears that the move by the president’s office is aimed at undermining ongoing demands for better pay in the public sector.
