Teacher trade unionists threatening to cripple schools from July 01 if the government did not meet their demand before June 30, yesterday said that they had not yet received any intimation from the Presidential Secretariat for a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, though it had announced that the President had, on Friday (20) called a meeting to discuss their salary anomalies.

General Secretary of the All Ceylon Teachers Service Union (CTSU) Mahinda Jayasinghe said three major teacher trade unions, Education Professionals Association, All Ceylon United Teachers Union and CTSU had called a protest against the government’s failure to rectify teachers’ salary anomalies.

"Some pro-government unions are trying to sabotage our trade union action. If any member of other teacher trade unions is permitted to take part in our meetings with either President Rajapaksa or Education Minister Susil Premajayanth, we will boycott them," Jayasinghe said.

Presidential Media Unit said that President Rajapaksa had discussed the problem with Education Minister Premajayanth on Friday (20) at Temple Trees and instructed that a meeting be summoned with the teacher unions.