True Trade Union Leader ?

Today instead of talking about principals, many disfiguring SMSs are seen to be circulated?
“Elect Padeniya! His secretary candidate does not even qualify to lead a funeral society, vote 4 Dr Padeniya -his one man show will make change for GMOA, for the worse! This is the SMS circulated from mobile- 0770559669
This raises the question “Who is the Perfect Trade Union leader?”
It is not that difficult to assess!

THESE ARE THE BASIC PRINCIPLES TO FOLLOW,

Disqualify him if he is known to…..
-Work full time in the private sector abusing trade union power.
-Allow illegal transfers, violating the merit orders of members.
-Node his head in response to political pressure.
-Use political power and power of other means to suppress branch union and their members.

The true trade union leader should.

Have complete trust on the membership
A trade union leader should firstly, secondly and thirdly have trust on the membership and their strength. One who believes on the politicians is not a true leader but an imposter.

Be honest at all times
One who lies as a habit and continues to lie to the members will not understand the growing distrust among the members with each lie he utters.

Have Work experience at grass root level of the GMOA
experience in working at various levels of our branch union structure( hospital branch unions, district branch unions and general committee post). One who had been directly parachuted to the ex co by passing these steps does not know the value of holding regular general committee meetings and issuing correct minutes. The word democracy will not mean anything to him. He will pretend listening to you but will act according to his own whims and fancies.

Have real life experience
A trade union leader should ideally he be a person who depends mostly on the government salary. Then only he will realize the difficulty of managing the daily life of a doctor with the poor salary given. One with an income of 3-4 laks or several millions of rupees per month will not feel your difficulties.

Be an example to others
He should be a person who is actively working in the government sector; a person who has not worked a single day for the last 3 years is less likely to know much about the difficulties of the common doctor.24 hour OPD will not matter him as far as he is not affected.

Disregard the following

Expensive luxurious vehicle used
Expensive attire
Ultra modern mobile phone(because usually uncontactable to the members)

Carrots, Toffees and lollipops!

During the colonial era the doctor was equal in position with the Governor!

The common addressed him with respect -“Dosthara Hamuduruwo”
As time passed, this term was gradually replaced by “Dosthara Mahattaya”.
The deterioration did not stop at that point. “Dosthara Mahattaya” soon became “Dosthara”.
This transition in the nomenclature tells us a big story about deterioration of the position of the doctor in the society.

Many threats/challenges seem to be emerging.
1.Poor salary and its Taxation, Lack of an allowance policy and lack of privileges for the doctors.
2.Lack of an organizational structure-In which the clinical governance is taken in to consideration. New posts where paramedics have created in order to glorify themselves seem to be threatening the authority of the medical officers.
Nursing DDG, Ward Manager, Quality Manager (Lab) are only a few examples.
3.Being unable to establish an acceptable promotion scheme for the doctors has lead to stagnation in the same grade for many years.
4.Being unable to acquire additional educational qualifications. This has made the medical officer vulnerable to paramedical degree and post graduate degree programs.CME (Continuous Medical Education) is a dying need of the day.
5.Lack of an intermediate carder where acquired skills and experience of the doctors are taken in to account.
6.Lack of an internal quality control/Auditing system within the medical profession. This is directly linked with the deterioration in self satisfaction.
7.Medical litigation, adverse press publicity, Political influences, lack of a welfare structure and CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement) with India.

I have pointed out only a few, there are many more to be added.
All these have made the working environment of the medical officer unhealthy and unsatisfactory.
They need to be addressed by, taking the medical service as a whole.
A Leader with a good Vision is a prerequisite.

Carrots, Toffees or lollipops on the eve of an election will not serve the purpose.

Vote for Dr.Padeniya and Team.

Next possible theft of intellectual property by the current Ex Co !

What is that? That is the “The well known 21,000 transport allowance”


A transport allowance worth of 21,000 was recommended by the Ministry of health to the treasury in 2008.


Due to the war situation in the country we got only a 100% increase. This elevated the DAT allowance (Disturbance, Availability and Transport) from 5000 to 10,000.This was spearheaded by Dr.Padeniya as the secretary GMOA.


In the absence of Dr Padeniya,No effort (appreciable) was made during the years 2009,2010 or 2011 to acquire what has already been “recommended” despite the end of the war and increase in the percapita income of the country.

The reason is obvious to many!

But, due to the growing pressure among the doctors for an urgent revision in the transport allowance the chances of getting the remaining 11,000 are good.

After a long sleep of many years, the Ex Co will come forward tomorrow and tell that,

“The executive committee has been successful in negotiating the transport allowance for the entire membership of the GMOA…”
On that day remember, what they have really done was delaying it….

When calculated with the 25% increase given with the budget, you are losing Rs 14,000/= each month!

NEW CIRCULAR....AND THE WAR OF CLAIMING UNDUE CREDIT

As pointed out earlier,Sec Health has taken measures revert the circular and include the Specialist Medical Officers at their due place.

Sec Health had no other option other than including Medical Officers also in to the circular because
*all other Parallel categories(Eng.,Low officers) already have been included in to the circular by the treasury Sec.
*Trade union pressure exerted by kandy branch union and the turbulance expected to be generated if medical officers are neglected further.



While the Sec Health is correcting his blunders Our Sec GMOA seems to be going in to deeper trouble in his effort of claiming undue credit.



1.Our Sec GMOA thinks that the achivements are made as a result of the MIGHTY EX CO and disregards the General committee and it's contribution.(No wonder this is what should be expected)

2.In the above letter he most incorrectly says "The medical officers are entitled to a minimum of Rs 6000/= per month to a maximum of Rs 12,500/= according to above circular....."

This shows his ability in interpriting even a simple Circular issued by Sec Health.while the conditions are such he further tries to convince others that they are the pineors in getting this allowance for the doctors.

Read the above letter very carefully and learn the quality and reliability of GMOA documents.
Sec GMOA does not seem to feel shy to put his signature to low quality documents containing wrong information.
This is why GMOA is disregarded and not respected today at most of the forums.

Please remember-One who does not respect his own signature will not respect the membership.

You decide !
GMOA ELECTION ON 25 TH JUNE !
Closing date for the postal votes 24 th May !!

"Failed Ex Co" aims at claiming credit on the courage of the Kandy Branch Union

Fig 1


As highlighted in a previous post ,
This is the erroneously interpreted (by Sec health) telephone allowance circular by the Sec. Health.
This circular degrades the Consultant's position and totally ignores the Grade Medical Officers!

Fig 2

GMOA/SH/2010
15/11/2010
Dr.RavindraRuberu
Secretary,
Ministry of Health,
Colombo.

Dear Sir,

Re : Official Communication Facilities for Public Servants

This is further to the Ministry of Finance and planning circular No. PF/FS/05(viii), dated 2010/09/01 on the above subject. (Annexure 01)

GMOA appreciates the fact that the Official Telephone, Residential Phone, Mobile Phone and the Internet Facility Bills are included for the above allowance.

Accordingly the Consultant Medical Officers serving the Ministry of Health should be allocated Rs. 12,500/- per month, the Directors and RDHS of the Ministry of Health Rs. 8,000/-, per month and Deputy Directors / Senior Medical Officers Rs. 6,000/- per month.

Hence, we request you to issue the specific directives to the relevant paying authorities mentioning the specific amount payable to the consultant and other grade medical officers.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,


Dr. B T Gunasekara
Secretary


Then this was followed by a long sleep of 3 1/2 months till the receipt of the letter from Kandy Branch union.

Fig 3




Fig 4 shows the mysterious letter of the Sec GMOA which happened to have the same date!



Then comes the cancellation of the wrong circular!
Fig 5


Soon the correct circular will appear reinstating the consultants at their due place(Rs 12500/=) and including the grade medical officers (Rs6000/=)

The long sleep of Sec GMOA has cost grade medical officers more than Rs 40000/= each !

But Tomorrow he will come out and tell you that they win an allowance worth of Rs 6000/= for you!
But remember that it was the hard labour of Kandy branch union who appeared on behalf of you !
What he had done was depriving 40000/= from you for the last 7 months!

Sri Lanka university teachers firm on decision to vacate academic posts tomorrow

Sun, May 8, 2011, 12:23 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


University teachers of Sri Lanka are firm in their decision to resign from the academic posts they hold from tomorrow, university sources say.

The Federation of University Teachers' Association (FUTA) has announced that they will abandon their academic posts with effect from Monday.

They cite this as a preliminary step towards a possible general strike, if the government fails to meet their demands.

However, rejecting the university teachers' action, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued a circular, saying university teachers needed to give notice three months ahead of resignation.

The FUTA has also warned to boycott evaluation of the answer scripts of this year's GCE Advanced Level examination that is to be held in August if the salary issue was not sorted out by then.

Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Navaratne has said that school teachers would be used to replace university teachers to evaluate A/level answer scripts if they resorted to union action.

However, some teachers' trade unions have also pledged support to the move of the university teachers.
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Dear Collegues,
I can not help congratulating the university teachers on their collective effort for a better salary.
Irrespective of the outcome This is all about backbone !

Who is responsible for crippling the GMOA ?

Year 2011 will be marked in bold letters in the history of GMOA as the year which the secretary himself has accepted his impotence and inefficiency in public !



Do you know that the medical service minute has been amended 7 months back,

1.This has been done by a union other than the GMOA which has a very small membership(250).

2.The GMOA- which is said to be the strongest union in south east Asia with a membership of 14000 has been totally disregarded by the ministry of health.

3.GMOA EX Co which is supposed to be the guardian of the medical profession had been ignorant on the developments of the medical profession.

Why did this happen to us! Who put us to this state ?

Is he the Secretory Health ! NO

Think for a moment !

He is non other than our own GMOA secretary(and his advisers)

Do you like to continue this unfortunate state of affairs !

DATE OF GMOA Election 25 th JUNE !

You decide !