The Railway Controllers Union has declared its support for a token strike called by the Railway Joint Trade Union Alliance from midnight on September 17, raising the prospect of disruption on the rail network next week.

The union set out two demands. The first is the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of calls for an apology made against the Secretary of the Railway Station Masters’ Association. The second is the removal of the current Railway General Manager from his post.

The case against the General Manager

The union was blunt about its objection to the department’s head. It said the General Manager’s conduct had been harsh and had created a negative attitude among its members, and alleged that he had failed to take positive measures to improve the railway department.

It went further, accusing him of attempting to introduce a “feudal-style” administration that caused difficulties for passengers and the government while disregarding trade unions.

The union warned that its members would remain off duty for 48 hours if an acceptable solution was not reached before midnight on September 17.

An unusual qualifier

The union attached a condition that is rare in Sri Lankan trade union statements. It stressed that its objective was not to embarrass the government, and said that if the strike deviated from its stated objectives — including through political or other external influence — it would withdraw from the action and return to work.

Context

The Station Masters’ Association, whose secretary is at the centre of the apology dispute, has been an active industrial voice this year. In August it became the first non-legal trade body to back the Bar Association’s position on the 22nd Amendment, arguing that defending judicial independence was a duty of civil society and not of lawyers alone. It had earlier raised administrative and audit concerns within the department.

Daily Mirror does not name the General Manager or the Station Masters’ Association secretary, say what the apology was demanded over, or list which other unions have joined the alliance’s action. The Railway Department had not responded publicly at the time of writing.

Update, 11 September: the action is now a two-day strike, and the unions are courting commuters

The token strike has hardened into a 48-hour walkout on 17 and 18 September, and the Railway Joint Trade Unions are taking their case to passengers before it begins.

The unions will hold an awareness-raising discussion with railway commuters on the problems affecting services and on the planned action, the Daily Mirror reported. They said the meeting was organised to engage commuters directly and collect their views on the difficulties they face using the service.

The session is to cover cancelled and disrupted trains, overcrowding, technical failures and other operational shortcomings, and to explain the reasons behind the two-day action. The unions urged commuters and relevant organisations to attend and to put forward measures needed to restore the railway as a reliable public transport system.

What the shift in framing tells us

The 8 September statement set out an industrial grievance: an apology demanded of a union secretary, and the removal of the General Manager. Friday’s announcement puts service quality at the centre instead — cancellations, crowding and breakdowns — and asks passengers to endorse it.

That is a deliberate repositioning. A 48-hour stoppage on the rail network falls on the same commuters the unions are asking to back them, and the earlier statement had already gone out of its way to say the action was not aimed at embarrassing the government. Seeking public cover in advance is consistent with that.

The General Manager is named, and the dispute reaches the Human Rights Commission

Later on 11 September the dispute escalated beyond industrial action. Leaders of several public service trade unions lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), seeking an investigation into alleged human rights violations involving the General Manager of Railways, Ravindra Pathmapriya, the Daily Mirror reported.

This names the official at the centre of the dispute for the first time in this coverage. The unions’ original demand, on 8 September, was for the removal of “the current Railway General Manager”; no outlet had named him.

The complaint restates the apology grievance in stronger terms. The unions allege the General Secretary of the Railway Station Masters’ Association was questioned by the General Manager over alleged human rights violations and then issued an apology to the media — circumstances they say warrant an independent inquiry. They further allege the General Manager repeatedly delayed and cancelled trains and failed to act on technical faults.

That second allegation is the same service-quality case the unions are putting to commuters, now redirected at a named individual rather than at the department.

Separately, the unions warned the same day that continuing disruption could undermine public confidence in the railway altogether, citing cancellations of main office trains, peak-hour overcrowding, and trains developing technical problems before reaching their destinations. They said the effects reach beyond passengers to workplaces and schools, and called for a comprehensive solution.

Readers should note the framing is contested. Reader comments published beneath both Daily Mirror reports argue the reverse — that union action is itself the cause of the lost confidence. Those are unverified public comments, not reporting, and are noted here only because the unions’ claim to speak for commuters is the heart of their repositioning.

The HRCSL route has precedent at this ministry: the commission previously made a rights-violation finding involving the former Prisons Commissioner General in a separate matter.

Still not reported

The Daily Mirror gives no date, time or venue for the commuter discussion, and does not name the unions in the alliance or say how many have signed up to the 48-hour action. It does not report any response from the Railway Department, the General Manager or the Transport Ministry, or say whether talks to avert the strike are under way. Whether the original demands — the withdrawal of the apology call and the General Manager’s removal — remain the conditions for calling it off is not stated.

On the HRCSL complaint, the report does not name the unions that lodged it, say when the commission might take it up, or specify which rights are alleged to have been violated and by what conduct. Ravindra Pathmapriya has not been reached for comment by any outlet, and neither the Railway Department nor the HRCSL has responded publicly.