Oct 31, Colombo: Teacher trade unions in Sri Lanka are to complain against Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) has stated that a complaint would be lodged with the ILO regarding the Education Minister's refusal to meet the teachers and address their grievances.

CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin has said the Education Minister could not avoid discussions with trade unions since Sri Lanka is a signatory to international labour conventions.

Sri Lanka is a member of the ILO and is a signatory to the Labour Ordinance.

According to Stalin, government representative could not refuse to meet trade unionists.

He has noted that the Education Minister's actions were a clear indication of how the government signs international conventions and later act in violation to them.

The CTU and several other teacher trade unions say they would wait till November 8th and resort to a strike action if the authorities fail to address their demands that include a salary hike, solution to salary anomalies and a budgetary allocation of 6 percent of GDP to the education sector.