Trade unions stage protests seeking state jobs

COLOMBO (News1st): Trade unions staged protests on Tuesday claiming that graduates who received employments during the previous government have been removed from the new list. "The names of 40,092 graduates have been rejected this time," Ven. Thenne Gnananda Thero said. "We have been asking them not to politicize this matter from the beginning". The protestors who marched to the Presidential Secretariat were given a chance to meet with the President's Coordinating Secretary. "If we don't receive a solution, we will take to the streets on the 3rd of September," Gnananda Thero warned. Graduates from foreign and private universities complained that they have lost the opportunity to secure government jobs based on their universities. "Although we did not study in government universities, we have the right to obtain a government job," a protestor said. Some unions pointed out that there were delays in granting permanent employment to graduates. Around 16,500 people who were granted jobs through the national policies and economic ministry are facing delays in receiving permanent jobs, a unionist pointed out. "The training period for these officers ended on the 2nd of this month," Dhammika Munasinghe, the convenor of the Joint Development Officers Association said. He said that the ministry is not bearing responsibility over this as it is not a ministerial subject among the newly appointed ministers. "Therefore, 16500 graduates are facing uncertainty on when they would be granted permanent employment," Munasinghe said.