Feb 19, Colombo: A teachers' union in Sri Lanka, Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) has threatened to take union action unless the government takes immediate action to grant promotions to the teachers.

CTU General Secretary, Joseph Stalin says that over 100,000 out of the total of about 215,000 teachers in the country have not been granted their due promotions for nearly five years.

The CTU) states that according to the 2009/25 circular, teachers have been granted promotions only till December 31st, 2008 and teachers have not been promoted since then.

As a result, the pay hikes and other benefits that come with promotions become inaccessible to the teachers who are languishing in the same grade without being able to move forward.

According to Stalin, the Education Minister and the Secretary of the Education Ministry are aware of the status of long overdue promotions but continue to ignore the teachers' grievances.

The union points out that the principals are also due for promotions for the last five years.

Stalin has noted that teachers are disgruntled due to the delay in granting promotions and the Ministry should therefore immediately issue a circular granting the promotions.

"The authorities have not even called us for discussions or given us any re-assurance in this regard. We will resort to trade union action if we are not given a positive response soon," Stalin has warned.