July 30, Colombo: A section of the Sri Lanka postal department workers stayed away from work from early morning today reporting sick leave. The operations of many post offices were paralyzed as a result of the trade union action.

A spokesperson of the Postal Service Union said that the postal workers around the country have joined this strike against privatization and alleged corruption in the postal department and the the aim of the trade union action is to urge the authorities to pay attention to the malpractices in the department.

The spokesman said the government had granted permission to private companies to deliver mail, in what amounted to a de facto privatization campaign. The government however has said it has no plans to privatize any state institution.

A discussion was held this afternoon between the Postal Service Union and the Deputy Minister of Post and Telecommunication M.S. Sellasami.

Meanwhile, the Post Master General said to media that the union had not informed the problems in writing. He said that a competitive examination would be held to recruit suitable candidates for the vacancies in the Postal Department and the problems of the postal workers are well attended.