The Sevanagala Sugar Factory has been closed until further notice after production failed to restart, with management blaming continuing trade union action and warning of mounting losses.
Operations were severely disrupted from 25 August, when a group of employees withdrew from their duties and did not begin production work, Hiru News reported, citing a notice issued by the management.
The company’s chairman said employees did report for work on 25 August but production was not carried out properly, halting operations, according to the Daily Mirror. No production took place on the public holidays of 26 and 27 August. When operations had still not resumed by 10 a.m. on 28 August, management decided to close the plant.
A partial closure, not a full one
The two outlets describe the shutdown differently, and the distinction matters. The Daily Mirror reports the factory as closed; Hiru’s account of the management notice sets out a list of sections that keep running as essential services — the vacuum pans, crystallisers, centrifuges, weighing stations, sugarcane yard, water supply, electrical, power plant, pumping, security, firefighting and cultivation units.
All other administrative and service sections are shut, with no reopening date given. Several of the sections still operating are those that would be expensive or damaging to leave idle, including the boiling and crystallising equipment at the core of sugar processing.
Hiru dates the suspension from 29 August; the Daily Mirror reports the decision as taken on 28 August. The two are consistent if the decision was announced a day before it took effect.
Losses and obstruction alleged
Management said the closure was intended to prevent further financial losses, particularly the cost of salaries and overtime with no output to show for them, and that the dispute had already damaged the company’s financial position.
The company also alleged that essential maintenance had been obstructed despite the closure, and that lorries arriving to collect and sell sugar had been blocked — cutting off revenue while costs continued. It urged employees to stop what it called disruptive and alleged sabotage activities and return to work.
What the dispute is about
The underlying grievances concern manpower levels and salary structures. The company said it is conducting a formal manpower assessment and developing a new salary framework in consultation with the Salaries Commission, and that the process would not reduce the wages of existing employees.
The Department of Labour has formally notified the parties of the legal implications of the ongoing trade union action.
Neither report carried a response from the workers or their unions, gave the number of employees involved, or said how much cane is waiting to be crushed. The chairman said the factory underpins the livelihoods of sugarcane farmers across the Monaragala District — one of the country’s poorest — as well as employing a large workforce, and called on all parties to help restore continuous operations.
