{"id":197985,"date":"2019-01-16T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T07:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=197985"},"modified":"2019-01-16T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T16:59:10","slug":"slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/","title":{"rendered":"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President&#8217;s Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trade unions of Sri Lanka Telecom have launched an island wide token strike today (16) over several demands including the removal of current SLT Chairman Pallewatte Gamaralalage\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Kumarasinghe+Sirisena&amp;x=11&amp;y=4\">Kumarasinghe Sirisena<\/a>, the brother of President Maithripala Sirisena.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_152119\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kumarasinghe-Sirisena-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-152119\" class=\"size-full wp-image-152119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Kumarasinghe-Sirisena-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"188\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-152119\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kumarasinghe Sirisena<\/p><\/div>\n<p>SLT trade unions allege that under Sirisena&#8217;s watch the institution had lost Rs. 50 billion due to short-sighted decisions and wasteful expenditure. They said a handful of senior officials working hand in glove with Kumarasinghe Sirisena are responsible for the current state of affairs within the institution.<\/p>\n<p>Trade unions also stated that SLT had obtained a staggering amount of bank loans under Sirisena&#8217;s instructions for no apparent reason. They added that Sirisena&#8217;s decisions had jeopardized the future of all SLT workers.<\/p>\n<p>Eight trade unions have come together as a common front under the name &#8220;Protest Sri Lanka Telecom &#8211; Trade Union Collective&#8221; to launch TU action against Sirisena who was appointed soon after his brother&#8217;s appointment as the President.<\/p>\n<p>President Maithripala Sirisena is currently the minister in charge of Sri Lanka Telecom as the institution was not under any Ministry on December 29. Ajith P Perera functions as the non-Cabinet Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Since his appointment as SLT Chairman, Kumarasinghe Sirisena has run into many controversies including a decision to increase his own salary through a board paper. Sirisena, in March 2015, sought a salary increase that gave him a monthly income of approximately 2.4 million rupees (from SLT and Mobitel) while many SLT workers had issues relating to their salaries and bonuses.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-197990\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"904\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome--300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome--768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome--800x600.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 904px) 100vw, 904px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are also questions about Sirisena&#8217;s suitability to run the government&#8217;s biggest telecommunications company. At the time he was appointed the SLT Chairman, Sirisena had no experience in the telecommunication sector or any related field.<\/p>\n<p>He had experience as CEO\/General Manager of the State Timber Corporation and he had also worked as a Board Director at Land Reclamation &amp; Development Company Ltd and L.R.D.C. Services (Pvt) Ltd. Kumarasingha Sirisena had also worked as Financial Consultant at Araliya Group of Companies (Pvt) Ltd, owned by Dudley Sirisena.<\/p>\n<p>Sirisena had held all senior positions in the government after his brother, Maithripala Sirisena, became a Cabinet minister in 1997.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-title eltd-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sirisena-brother-pallewatta-gamaralalage-kumarasinghe-sirisena-appointed-as-slt-chairman\/\"><strong>Sirisena Brother, Pallewatta Gamaralalage Kumarasinghe Sirisena Appointed As SLT Chairman<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-title eltd-post-title\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/expose-president-sirisena-resorts-to-half-truths-to-conceal-his-brothers-greed\/\">Expos\u00e9: President Sirisena Resorts To Half-Truths To Conceal His Brother\u2019s Greed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":197990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President&#039;s Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President&#039;s Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-16T07:52:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-16T16:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/\",\"name\":\"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President's Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-16T07:52:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-16T16:59:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President&#8217;s Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President's Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President's Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2019-01-16T07:52:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-16T16:59:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/","name":"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President's Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-16T07:52:40+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-16T16:59:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg","width":960,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/slt-trade-unions-on-token-strike-today-demanding-removal-of-presidents-unqualified-brother-kumarasinghe-sirisena\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SLT Trade Unions On Token Strike Today Demanding Removal Of President&#8217;s Unqualified Brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Telecome-.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197985"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197999,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197985\/revisions\/197999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}