Labor Minister of Sri Lanka Gamini Lokuge says the public sector employees have already been granted a salary increment in the 2012 budget and that there was no plan to grant any further increments this year.
"There is no provision to grant additional payments to the working masses a few months after the budget," the Minister noted.
Lokuge made this comment in response to the demand by the working masses for a special cost of living allowance of Rs. 3,000.
The Minister told ColomboPage that the government would not be able to grant another salary increment.
He added that the government could not intervene with regard to increasing the salaries of the private sector employees.
"The private sector salaries and any increments have to be discussed in the wages board of the respective sectors and the employees. The government cannot intervene," Lokuge noted.
He however admitted that the minimum wage of a private sector employee was around Rs. 7,000.
CP
