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FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS

Reg. No. 8151

Department of History, University of Colombo, Colombo 03 Tele: 0718016200 /E-mail: nrdewasiri@gmail.com

January30,2012 Mr.S.B.Dissanayake Hon.MinisterofHigherEducation MinistryofHigherEducation WardPlace Colombo7 PROPOSEDSALARYINCREMENTSFORUNIVERSITYTEACHERS AtthemeetingheldwiththeMinsterofHigherEducation,Mr.S.B.Dissanayake,Dr.SunilJayantha Navaratne,andfewotherofficials,attheMinistryofHighereducationon20thJanuary2012,theFUTA officialsexpressedtheirstrongdispleasureoverthesalaryincrementsenactedbytheUGCcircular975. FUTAofficialspointedout: 1.therevisionswerenotmadetowardsachievingtheJiffryMaliksalaryrevisionproposalsof2008,to whichthegovernmentagreedtoimplement,asapartoftheagreementtoendthetradeunionaction initiatedbyFUTAin2011.(TheinterimproposalofFUTA,towhichthegovernmentagreedtoimplement,is attachedherewith). 2.thatthe20%increasetothebasicsalaryofallUniversityTeachers,thatwasagreedtobeenacted throughtheBudgetof2012,tobepaidfromJanuary2012,wasnotimplemented. 3.onlya3%increasewasmadetothebasicsalaryofprobationarylecturers,lecturersandseniorlecturers anda16%increasewasmadetoAssociateProfessors,ProfessorsandSeniorProfessors. 4.thatthebasisbehindhighereducationsalaryreformswastoretainthebestbrainstoservethe universitysystem(preventbraindrain)andtokeepthesalaryofUniversityTeachersonparwiththatof similarcategoriesofprofessionalssuchasthestaffgradeprofessionalsoftheCentralBank.Butthe incrementsthroughUGCcircular975doesnotaddresstheseissues. 5.thattheHigherEducationAuthoritieshaveonlythoughtaboutsavingsomemoneythroughtheUGC proposal975,withoutpayinganyattentiontothebasisonwhichFATAdemandsweremade.Thisis apparentwhenthefollowingfactisconsidered:OftheUniversityTeachers,10%areProfessorswhile43% areSeniorLecturersandLecturers,and47%areprobationarylecturers(UGCstatistics,2009).
President Dr. Nirmal.R.Dewasiri University of Colombo Vice Presidents Rev Dambara Amila, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Dr. Ananda Jayawickrama University of Peradeniya Prof. R. Vigneswaran University of Jaffna General Secretary Dr. Terrence Madhujith University of Peradeniya Asst. Secretary Dr. Upul Abeyratne University of Ruhuna Treasurer Dr. Pavithra Kailasapathy University of Colombo

 6.thattheincrementswereclearlyaimedatnonacademicstaffoftheuniversities,ofwhichtheUniversity Teachersweremerelyfortunatebeneficiaries.ThisisquiteapparentfromthefactthatNonacademicstaff gettingtheincrementsfromJanuary2012itself,andtheUniversityteachersgettingtheincrementsintwo steps,onlyinJuly2012andOctober2012. 7.thatthereisanotherupcoming20%increasetothebasicsalarythatneedstobeenactedthroughthe Budgetof2012(tobepaidfromJanuary2013). Henceitisurgentlyrequestedthattheanomaliesbeamendedassoonaspossible,andbepaidfrom January2012aswasclearlyindicatedintheinterimproposalthatledtothetemporarysuspensionofthe threemonthlongtradeunionactionin2011. Thankingyouinadvance Yourssincerely, Dr.N.R.Dewasiri President

President Dr. Nirmal.R.Dewasiri University of Colombo

Vice Presidents Rev Dambara Amila, University of Sri Jayewardenepura Dr. Ananda Jayawickrama University of Peradeniya Prof. R. Vigneswaran University of Jaffna

General Secretary Dr. Terrence Madhujith University of Peradeniya

Asst. Secretary Dr. Upul Abeyratne University of Ruhuna

Treasurer Dr. Pavithra Kailasapathy University of Colombo