Say no to ETCA
Posted on July 29th, 2016
By Niranjala Ariyawansha Courtesy Ceylon Today
President of the National Trade Unions Centre (NTUC) K.D. Lalkantha assured that every possible step would be taken to prevent the signing of the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India, as it is deemed highly unfavourable to Sri Lanka.
He warned that in the event the agreement is signed, many Sri Lankans will be deprived of jobs and that salary rates will plummet.
NTUC distributed one million handbills on Thursday (27) opposite the Fort Railway Station to raise awareness among the public regarding the adverse consequences of ETCA.
Lalkantha said at the event the government intends bringing investors to this country through ETCA and that the expectation of the investors is that the rupee will depreciate and salaries paid to the workers will be reduced.
“Then the government will have to bring workers from India who are willing to work for lesser rates. Because of that a problem will arise regarding the security of jobs of workers in this country. However, the government, while being dishonest with civil organizations including trade unions that are against the agreement are bringing about suppression and attempting to somehow sign the agreement,” he alleged.
Leaders of many trade unions including the National Electricity Workers’ Association, Lanka Railway Employees’ General Service Association, All Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union, the Unemployed Graduates’ Association and the All Ceylon Nurses’ Union participated in the programme.
August 1st, 2016 at 3:58 am
India has over 400 million poor people and over 40 million people in India are unemployed. If this ETCA is signed and the Hanuman bridge is built all these desperate people in India will come in droves to Sri Lanka since the socio-economic situation of Sri Lanka is a million times better than the socio economic situation of India. I would urge the uncaring and cruel Indian government to provide basic housing, clean water, sanitation, healthcare, education, food and clothing to these desperately poor 400 million Indians rather than spending US 5.2 billion dollars in building a Hanuman bridge to Sri Lanka. If Sri Lanka signs this ETCA with India it will be Sri Lanka’s end. Sri Lanka should not sign any such trade deals where people can come here to work freely, unless the country we are signing the ETCA with has a similar or a better socio-economic situation than Sri Lanka. I would urge the uncaring, corrupt and cruel India Government to immediately stop building space stations and nuclear weapons and use that money to provide basic housing, clean water, sanitation, healthcare, education, food and clothing to the 400 million desperately poor people of India which is a government’s basic responsibility. Sri Lanka should stop immediately the signing of ETCA with India and urge the Indian Government to carry out the above task rather than serving the rich people of India only which the uncaring and cruel Indian Government seems to be doing.
August 1st, 2016 at 3:59 am
Even if the constitution will be changed since this idiotic government follows whatever instructions the US, UK, EU, Norway, Canada, Sweden, India, the TNA and the separatist terrorists tell it to do, we must ensure that the unitary status of the country is not compromised in any way whatsoever. The clause in the 13th amendment which says that ‘the North and the East is the homeland of the Tamil speaking people’ must be deleted since it is totally false when looking at the history of the island. This clause must be replaced with the clause ‘the entire island is the homeland of all its peoples’. The provision which allows for the merger between two provinces should be deleted. As much subjects from the concurrent list should be included in the national list. Under no circumstances should land, police or fiscal powers be given to provincial councils. All of us need to ensure that the above happens since if the system reverts back to a parliamentary system and the presidential system is scrapped, the only way to ensure the unitary status of the country is the make sure that the provincial councils do not get any more powers than they have at present. The Public Security Ordinance should not be amended in anyway as well. If any provincial councils acts out of line, the head of government should dissolved such a provincial council and direct rule by the head of government should be enforced under those circumstances.