Railway Station Masters on strike, free ride for passengers

COLOMBO (News 1st); The trade union action launched by the Sri Lanka Railway Station Masters' Association continues on Friday (24) as well. Chairman of the Railway Station Masters' Association, Sumedha Somaratne said Railway Station Masters will refrain from accepting parcels that are to be transported by train and the issuance of tickets as well. However, Sri Lanka Railways continues to operate trains as per the fixed schedule despite the trade union action. The Railway Station Masters' Association launched the strike citing several issues including the lack of freight service trains during the festive season and the failure to rectify the issues in the Railway Signal System, zero positive response from Sri Lanka Railways Administration on the issues faced by Station Masters. Our Correspondents said passengers across the island travelled free of charge as ticket counters were shut down. Meanwhile in a recent statement Chairman of the Station Masters Association Sumedha Somaratne noted that if they do not receive a favourable response from the authorities, they will have to call a much stricter island-wide trade union action with the participation of each and every station master from Sunday (26) midnight. Somaratne warned the authorities to not drag them on taking stronger action by inconveniencing the passengers and they are still of the stance that these issues can be solved without forcing extreme trade union action.