Trade unions urge President to give official recognition to new COL unit index

Trade unions have petitioned the President to intervene in giving official recognition to the Cost of Living Index ( COL) by publishing the unit value of the index in the Government Gazette.

In a letter to the president, 10 trade unions urged him to create an enabling environment for unions to bargain with employers and arrive at an agreement on the matter of a COL component in the wages and salaries of employees.

In July last year, the Census & Statistics Department said the lat- est calculation of the COL index, with 2006/ 2007 as the base year, found the value of each index point to be Rs 280.

Issuing a press release, Convenor of trade unions T. M. R. Rasseedin said that since 2008 trade unions are facing great difficulties in their negotiations for periodic revision of wages with the employers.

The main reason for this was the attitude of the employers to the new index. They decline to accept or recognise the index for wage revision purposes, he added.

Due to this reason employees in the private sector who benefited from revision of wages based on the COL Index have been denied the benefit by employers, he said. The demand of unions in the private sector is that the unit value of the COL index of Rs. 280 should be officially published in the Government Gazette so as to enable unions to negotiate with the employers on the basis of the base figure and come to an agreement with the employers on the matter, he revealed.

When asked about the delay in publishing the new unit value of the COL index, Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge, said the Finance Ministry is computing the unit value taking into consideration of inflation and several other factors.

The unit value of the COL index has only been gazetted twice since Independence - once when the COL Index point was valued at Rs 2, and later at Rs 65.

He added that, when the Rs 65 unit value was announced, it was accepted by all stakeholders, when the real amount (as declared by the Census Department at that time) was Rs 180.

Likewise, he argues, no trade un- ion or political party has the right to blame the government on the delay in announcing the latest unit value of the COL Index. "We should think of the private sector employers also when taking ( such) decisions," he said, adding that private sector companies would not be able to operate, if they are expected to pay Rs 280 for each increasing unit of the index, to every employee. In terms of the Wages Board Ordinance Sec. 20(d), the Competent Authority appointed by the Minister is required to ascertain and publish the cost of living index num- ber applicable to workers in such trades as applicable. Notwithstanding this proviso, the Ministry of Labour displays reluctance to act on the matter whilst the DCS which formulated the index takes up the position that the publishing of the index is not its responsibility but that of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Rasseedin said.

Due to this " passing the buck game", employees who up to now used the COL component in their salaries and wages stand deprived and denied of this benefit, he added.