While the JVP affiliated Ceylon Teachers' Service Union said that yesterday’s ‘sick note campaign’ was an overall success with 80 per cent of the teachers and principals island wide striking work, the Ceylon Teachers' Union said that the trade union action was aimed at gaining political mileage from the the long standing grievances of teachers and principals to win over their support for the March 29 elections to the Education Department Cooperative Society.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry, in a press release, stated that the JVP-led ‘sick note campaign’ was a complete failure as a majority of teachers and principals had reported for work yesterday.

The General Secretary of the JVP led Ceylon Teachers Service Union Mahinda Jayasinghe said that members of the Ceylon Teachers Union had canvassed unsuccessfully to prevent their members from participating in the trade union action.

The General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union Joseph Stalin said its members had demanded that the Government implement the Interim Report of the Salaries and Cadres Commission and boycotted the marking A level scripts on July 20 last year. They had also resorted to a token strike on September 13 with plans to resort to trade union action on October 29 and 30 but the JVP Unions, wanting to vote in support of the Government’s Budget, had sabotaged their plans and betrayed the cause of the teachers. They were now trying to shed crocodile tears to obtain votes.

Mahinda Jayasinghe said the Ceylon Teachers Union was the Koti Viduhalpathi Ekamuthuwa and had campaigned to achieve the goals of the UNP and the LTTE in the past. It was now 'sucking up' to the government and attempting to tarnish the JVP's image.

Stalin said the annual election to the Education Department Cooperative society had been shelved by both the UNP and the SLFP over the past 14 years and Interim Committees appointed to manage the society. Now the JVP had emerged from nowhere and was pretending be saints in an attempt to win votes, but it was mistaken as the ten major trade Unions were with the CTU, while only three unions with barely any backing were behind the JVP-led union.