Pay hike to CEB employees: Govt. to foot an additional Rs. 9bn salary bill

By Ifham Nizam- 2021/07/4

The 25% hike salary increase granted to 28,000 Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) employees will cost the government an additional nine billion rupees annually, officials said.

The CEB’s senior management defended the move, which came at a time the government is facing a financial crisis, saying the employees were entitled to a salary revision once in three years in terms of the collective agreement.

“It was something due to them in January this year”, a senior engineer commented, adding that Water Board employees received a bigger pay hike.

CEB trade unions originally demanded demanded a 36% pay rise, which would have worked out to an additional annual financial commitment of more than Rs. 12 billion for the government, a senior official said.

The salary increase was given in the backdrop of a protest campaign launched by CEB trade unions. Since January this year, 90% of the employees agitated for their due salary revision with a ‘sick note’ campaign also launched to support their demand.

Energy Minister of Power, Dullas Alahapperuma submitted a cabinet paper in April to secure the additional financial commitment to meet the enhanced salary bill of CEB employees.

The last increment was granted in 2018, a trade unionist said. “What was due in January 2021 didn’t materialize”.

“We submitted our proposals before the due date, there was no response, but we were patient because of the Covid-19 situation. There are no politics involved. We protested against the delay in what was due to us”, he noted.

CEB Chairman Eng. Vijitha Herath said that in terms of a Collective Agreement signed, the salaries of employees are revised by 25% every three years.