Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 17:15:27 CDTThe government said it wanted to privatize the Ceylon Electricity Board--CEB. State workers said no way and called for a strike on March 30 that would have tied up power supplies all over the island. Realizing the workers were serious, the government quickly threw in the towel. Officials assured Nihal Wijesinghe, president of the CEB Joint Trade Union Front, that the power utility would not be privatized in 1995. The strike was called off.
The Sri Lankan regime also wants to sell off state ventures in banking, insurance and telecommunications. Ten Sri Lankan labor unions demonstrated against government plans on March 29. According to Reuter, the government has been holding talks with Canada's Mihaly International on a $360 million coal-power project in the island's east.
