All Sri Lanka Transport Board workers will protest today opposite all SLTB institutions islandwide demanding a ‘genuine’ SLTB. They claimed that the SLTB was recently established only for the SLTB re-establishment Act of August 30, 2005, but there had been no other development in the SLTB so far.

General Secretary of the All Ceylon Transport Workers Union, the organisers of the protest, Sepala Liyanage told a press conference yesterday that the main protest will be held opposite the Central Bus Stand, Colombo. ‘We will notify that the government should meet our demands immediately. We wrote a letter to Transport Minister A. H. M. Fowzi to fulfil the workers’ grievances within 14 days. If the Ministry does not answer our problems within this period, we will launch an islandwide strike,’ Liyanage said.

"There are a number of employees working for a very small salary. However, some directors and other top officers get massive salaries while the SLTB is running at a loss. We demand that the SLTB salary anomalies be immediately rectified."

He said that the salaries of the all government sector workers except the SLTB had been increased early this year. Salaries arrears they are entitled to by the 2005 and 2006 budgets have not been paid yet, Liyanage added that the SLTB needed Rs. 550 million per a months salary. They demand that the Treasury issue funds for salaries properly and fix a date for payment.

He said corruption was rampant in the SLTB depots islandwide and there were no qualified depot managers and directors. "Most of them are political appointees. They cannot handle the depots without a loss. The Minister appointed a committee to stipulate qualifications of SLTB officials. The committee recommended the qualifications and application were called from qualified persons. But qualified person are still not recruited. Political appointments are still being made."