Unions launch scathing attack on Srilankan bosses
„Say if any member of current board, CEO remains in airline postrestructuring they have no confidence in process „Unreasonable for govt. to comment on airline’s fiscal performance as it is always managed by a govt. appointee „Call for transparency and emp
In a scathing attack on its top brass, the unions of the Srilankan Airlines in a letter dated December 12, 2017 said, if any of the current board members or CEO remains part of the airline postrestructuring, they have no confidence in the whole restructuring process for which Srilankan Chairman Ajith Dias requested the cooperation of the all employee unions a couple of weeks ago. “We wish to very categorically state that if you, the CEO or any one of your members from the Board of Directors is retained and remains a constituent of the management of our company post restructuring process, we have no confidence in, or trust that the said process will be effective and yield the desired results,” the letter sent by Alliance of Unions-srilankan Airlines to Dias, read.
It further stated it is unreasonable for any government to criticize the fiscal performance of the airline, as throughout the history, with the exception of the Emirates partnership, the airline has always been managed by government appointees who had minimal, if not no experience or credentials, to run a dynamic airline business.
The letter was copied President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minsiter Ranil Wickremesinghe, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim, Special Assignments Minister Sarath Amunugama, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, Development Trade and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama and several key Finance Ministry officials.
The letter stated that on the eve of the third year of the management led by Dias, the airline being compelled to invite “an experienced international consultant” to attend the task of restructuring the airline company was proof that the present administration has failed in the task entrusted with them.
“Perhaps it may have been more prudent to have hired such a competent personal locally or internationally from the inception when you had first assumed office, and observed that the task was beyond the competency of yourself, the Board and specifically the current CEO, who had absolutely no business or managerial experience of any significance, to qualify for a task of this scale at such a critical juncture,” the letter said. It further added that as a result, lives and sustenance of nearly 7,000 employees and their families are now in jeopardy, through no fault of their own.