The ongoing trade union action by the Federation of the University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has drawn the attention of the entire nation. Cutting across the ethnic boundaries which have hitherto divided them on many issues of national importance, especially the minority question, the academic staff of the universities in the North and East have joined hands with their counterparts in the South in a common struggle for pay hike. Reports from the different universities in the country inform us that the resignation of academic staff from voluntary positions is gathering momentum day after day with more and more academics and teachers’ unions coming out in support of the trade union action initiated by the FUTA.

Privatization of higher education in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern for students coming from underprivileged background. Free education at both secondary and tertiary levels has played a pivotal role in increasing the living standards of low-income families. In spite of its low per-capita income, Sri Lanka’s Physical Quality of Life Index is nearly as high as that of the developed world owing to the availability of free education and free health care services to all citizens. The trade union action that the FUTA has embarked on coincides with the crucial move made by the government to establish private universities in Sri Lanka. While the government is preparing to allow the establishment of private universities, students from disadvantaged sections of the community continue to regard the state-run universities as places that ensure their upward social and economic mobility. Private universities might entice the teaching staff of state-run universities sooner or later by offering them attractive salary packages. If the demands of the academic community of the state universities are not addressed in a sensible way, students who come from not-so-affluent families may have to pursue their higher education at state-run universities under academics of low caliber disqualified by private universities or deemed unfit for teaching at private universities. In the end, the government’s persistent refusal to increase the salaries of the teaching staff at the country’s state universities may put the common man’s children at the risk of losing access to quality education. As we are expecting the establishment of private universities at any moment, failing to meet the demands of the academics will cause a situation of “inter-sectoral/intra-state brain-drain” which would adversely affect the future and aspirations of the poor of this country. Though I do not see this trade union action as one that stems from a larger concern for the future of the educational opportunities for indigent students or the poor citizenry of this country, we need to transform this action into a significant component of a political program to contest the haphazard neo-liberal policies of the present regime such as privatization of higher education.

In the context of escalating cost of living, the salary paid to the academics employed at the state-run universities is not adequate to cover their routine expenditure. We should be mindful of the fact that an academic utilizes her salary not only to fulfill her daily needs, but she also invests part of it in her research and higher educational ventures. Given the lack of funding for research and higher education outside Sri Lanka, the salary paid to an academic is an important source of human resource of development in the university system, which, in turn, becomes a source of national development. If the present salary is barely sufficient to meet one’s day-to-day expenses, how can an academic develop her research skills or present her research at international conferences which charge exorbitant amounts of money as registration fee, let alone the travel expenses the academic has to bear?

Teaching at a university is not a walk in the park, though the lack of commitment of some in the academia towards teaching and research has regrettably produced a repugnant image of university academics. Teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students involves rigorous preparation. Evaluating student assignments, moderating and making question papers, evaluating answer scripts and providing guidance to research students are tasks which consume huge amount of time and require a high degree of scholarship, expertise, training and patience. Besides these academic tasks, teaching staff at our universities are burdened with innumerable voluntary chores ranging from mentoring students to providing administrative assistance to the functioning of academic departments, faculties and the entire university system. In many respects, the academic staff of our universities actively deliver their services in their non-academic capacities as student counselors, heads of departments, deans, vice-chancellors and members of various committees, besides their mandatory responsibility of teaching. We need to ask the authorities whether all these services—academic and non-academic—are valued in determining the salaries of our academics. Do we see a logical connection between the services rendered by the academic staff and the salaries they are paid? Academics who are in support of the trade union action have also argued that the salary paid to Sri Lankan university teachers is far less than the salaries earned by their counterparts in India and other South Asian countries. Hence, the trade union action launched by the FUTA cannot be dismissed as irresponsible or unneeded.

Despite the fact that the trade union action of the FUTA is justifiable for important reasons, the government has shown little interest in engaging with the demands of the academics. The University Grants Commission, in a hasty move to snub the trade union action, has issued a circular, the legal validity of which is now being questioned. It is unfortunate that the government has chosen to respond to the academics’ call for pay hike in a nationalist diatribe calling the trade union action unpatriotic. It may be true that the crisis that besets Sri Lanka’s economy will be a hindrance for the government to concede to the demands made by the FUTA immediately; but it does not warrant the government to belittle their grievances or project the trade union action of the academics in an unfavorable light, as a threat on the national interests of the country.

Trade union action in the recent history of Sri Lanka does not have many success stories. However, in any society, trade union activities are necessary for the protection of labour rights and to harness the arbitrary and exploitative practices of the state and capitalist forces. The thirty-year-old ethnic conflict has overshadowed the hardships and struggles of the working people. In a militarized society where war-heroes have been celebrated, the contribution of the working people towards this country’s progress has not been duly recognized or remembered by the state. Trade unions have lately become less independent and ethnically polarized in Sri Lanka. May Day rallies have been manipulated by the state and its aides to whip up nationalist sentiments among the public and to create a cult of personality for political leaders. The resignation of university academics enmasse from their voluntary positions as a key trade union measure to demand the introduction and implementation of a revised salary scheme and their persistent refusal to compromise their demands will hopefully rejuvenate the emaciated spirit of the trade unions belonging to the different sectors of Sri Lanka’s economy.

The support given by the United National Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to the trade union action of the university teachers is commendable. However, I sadly note that political parties representing the minority communities seem to remain silent over the trade union action started by the FUTA, as though it were not their concern or responsibility. On several occasions, political parties identifying themselves with minorities have been accused by leftist political parties of conniving with imperialist forces. Though one may argue that it was the failure of the traditional left to back the minorities’ struggle for their rights that moved the minority parties closer to political parties and movements propagating the ideology of neo-liberalism, political parties speaking for the rights of the minority people should consider the role they could play vis-à-vis trade union activities such as the one that has been organized by the FUTA. Supporting this trade union action would broaden the scope of their politics and may offer them an opportunity to work with multi-ethnic groups, and garner their support to address the political aspirations of the minority communities. In the absence of strong left parties, minority parties need to realise that the task of bolstering the rights of the working people is their responsibility too. At the same time, it is time that trade unions such as the FUTA to come forward to re-evaluate their position on the minority question and render their support to the cause of the minorities.

The hegemonic structure of the nation needs to be contested from multiple-fronts. The proletariat, minorities, oppressed castes and women are the peripheral, marginalized subjects of the nation. Each of these groups relies on the others to move forward in their quest for power and emancipation. In charting its future course of action, the FUTA or any other activist movement or political party needs to consider a Sri Lankan context marked by multi-pronged struggles and the manner in which those struggles are inextricably intertwined. The success of any political action aiming at better freedom for the oppressed is contingent on the ability and willingness of the political movements and trade unions involved in that action to accommodate struggles of different kinds under a common political program. The struggle initiated by the FUTA and the support extended to it by academics from all regions of the county remind us once again of the importance of mass-based, multi-ethnic political movements to overcome the political challenges that lie before us.

The trade union action called by the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA), has once again highlighted the crisis in our universities. Unfortunately it is the strikes, the clashes and the protests that bring the universities to the news headline, and not their silent contributions to educating the youth and equipping them with skills and competencies.

The State universities in Sri Lanka need to be modernized and energized. Presumable to begin this the Government has proposed that new entrants be sent for three weeks training at a military academy. It also says that the long standing salary demand of academics is non-negotiable. Neither of these auger well for successful reforms which need to be derived by consultation with the relevant stakeholders. Lack of discussion and transparency can only be interpreted as the government having a narrow political agenda such as deliberate neglect of the State University system and the militarization of the country. This in the background of increasing advent of military intervention in many spheres of civil life such as in dengue control, land acquisition, commercial air transport services, vegetable trade and even garbage collection possibly underlines the fear that there is no need for universities to produce graduates except for a few that will seek to make loyalty to their political masters a higher calling than professional conduct. It also begs the question if converting the universities to military academies is a more pragmatic strategy at this stage.

The government however, cleverly shrouds this reality in stating that Sri Lanka will become a knowledge hub. But what steps it has taken towards this remains a mystery. It has not as yet succeeded in attracting a single private university of repute. Since higher education in Sri Lanka has been monopolized by the State, how it can achieve a knowledge hub by willful neglect of its own universities is hard to understand. The tracer surveys undertaken by the UGC indicate that the vast majority of graduates of State Universities are gainfully employed. In fact they are in high demand even in foreign markets. Many do accept these positions sadly so because the country cannot offer them suitable employment. Those that are reported as ‘misfits’ are mostly victims of policy blunders under political pressures to increase intakes in certain disciplines far beyond the market can cope with. It is not that universities are not without their own internal problems. But the remedy to this is to strengthen the universities and not to weaken them further.

Many articles have been written showing how so very low Sri Lankan university academic salaries are when compared even to our neighboring countries, many of which have lower per capita incomes. The government now states that it cannot afford this increase and that other public servants will also request similar increases. This is a question it should ask when it determines the salaries of its Central Bank employees. But this is done since it is a practical requirement that unless such market based salaries are paid, the Central Bank would lose its gifted staff to the commercial banks and the regulator would be weaker than the industry.

Government should not forget that most academics are in a similar position and able to secure employment abroad. This is amply evident if you scroll through the faculty names of any reputed university which will always include a high proportion of those who graduated from our State universities and perhaps did not return. Those that are more altruistic and wish to serve their mother country do so sacrificially. Not only are the salaries an insult to their abilities (it is not uncommon for a fresh graduate to find a job that pays more than his professor!!), the working conditions are often hostile and difficult. Doing quality research and publications for a Sri Lankan academic is an uphill task, having to also undertake many administrative duties that are required to keep the system operating due to administrators not being competent- again due to low wages and poor resources.

Many universities have large number of vacancies for qualified staff and many others have filled them out of necessity with those having partial qualifications. This is the status of the universities that are expected to drive the knowledge hub. If the country is unable to attract and retain gifted lecturers, it will find increase of the university admissions not only difficult, but also constrained to traditional areas, as staff in newer and more popular subject areas are in great demand globally. Alternately more students will seek foreign qualifications which cost an average 20 times more in foreign exchange.

Increasing salaries alone won’t fix all the problems o four universities. But consultation and negotiation would. It is important for university staff to feel part of the country’s resurgence as opposed to being labeled pawns of foreign powers and JVP sympathizers which may be label that even stretching the imagination fit just one or two.

The government should not compare the salary scale of university academics with those of Director Generals of government departments. There is no dearth of applicants for DGs posts. How many such vacancies are there currently? Today a Chairman of a corporation who may not even have O/Ls or marketable skills is allowed a salary of Rs 90,000 plus many other perks. On the other hand University lecturers are not entitled to any form of perks for transport, telephone, housing or for attending meetings. Even a Head of Department which is a full time job which only sets back his or her career, gets an additional measly Rs 1,000/- per month and vice-chancellor also not much more. If government did not create tens of thousands of new jobs in areas of little economic value addition in many government institutions- just so that employment is created for political supporters, paying a reasonable salary to university staff would not be an issue. Government should also not that even the termination of the war has not stopped the brain drain of university staff. Besides they leave even to join the private sector, as those salaries and benefits are much more attractive. The recent decision to impose PAYE tax on university staff and constrain the duty free permits will only accelerate this.

The government has so far shown that it lacks in sound judgment and considers steam rolling the protest as the preferred option. Clearly it does not seem to have the foggiest idea of the role of universities or higher education. Treating universities in this dismissive manner can only be a short term political gain, as the youthful minds and enthusiasm if not respected and nurtured by capable staff will only lead to greater chaos in the future and possibly set back Sri Lanka’s dreams of progress even further.