The CWE is the first state-owned enterprise to be destroyed and all its workers sacked under International Monetary Fund austerity measures being implemented by the Wickremesinghe government.
The scheme is a result of further discussion between management and the trade unions as part of the IMF austerity measures of the Wickremesinghe government.
Appeals for increased retrenchment payouts is a cynical manoeuvre by union bureaucrats who are simply asking for a higher price for the destruction of jobs that they have no right to sell.
Wednesday’s strikes and protests powerfully indicate the determination of workers to fight the government’s social attacks. By contrast, the trade unions did everything they could limit to the industrial action.