Colombo: In violation of a government order, Sri Lankan workers went on strike to protest against a rescue plan for the island nation's financial crisis, forcing the closure of some hospitals, banks, and ports.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is facing a public backlash over steep tax hikes and spending cuts imposed to secure a sorely needed International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Only emergencies are being handled, according to doctors at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo, the country's commercial hub, while appointments at private clinics and hospitals have been cancelled.
Electricity workers and bank tellers were also on strike while dock workers staged lunchtime protests at the capital’s port. By ordering "critical services" to continue working and threatening to fire employees who disobeyed the order, Wickremesinghe essentially outlawed strikes.
Difficult to live
Union leaders said they were told by Wickremesinghe that he cannot reduce income taxes as it was a condition of the IMF to release a bailout package.
Haritha Aluthge of the Government Medical Officers’ Association told reporters in Colombo that his union planned to continue its industrial action.
“A token one-day protest is not going to sway the authorities,” he said. “We will have to take stronger action.” Around 2,000 port workers, already staging a work-to-rule, held a demonstration in support of that demand during their lunch break in Colombo.
Elsewhere, hundreds of government employees wore black clothes and armbands and flew black flags outside state buildings. Government hospitals were impacted as nurses conducted a four-hour strike and doctors participated in demonstrations, according to union leaders. Most banks across the nation were closed for the day as banking unions joined the strike.