Employees of Michelin Lanka Pvt Ltd, located in the Midigama area of Matara, allege that there are plans to sell the company.
This has raised concerns among employees about job losses, leading to protests.
Workers allege that the company is planning to dismiss them with a minimal severance payment, which they believe is insufficient.
An employee has revealed to the media that after workers were informed about this decision, a newly formed employees’ union has set several demands to the company authorities.
Workers have demanded a fair severance package, but authorities have offered Rs.200,000, (a sum employees consider inadequate) reportedly asking them to provide resignation letters in return.
An employer also states that before the current government took office, Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe had proposed that forming a trade union could help secure workers’ rights. However, the president and secretary of that union are now reportedly in hiding, he employer adds.
Meanwhile, holding a press conference recently, the Inter Company Employees’ Union had revealed that Michelin Lanka Pvt Ltd is in the process of selling the company to the Indian company – CEAT.
According to the union, CEAT has purchased a majority stake in the company.
As part of the deal, it is reported that the Midigama factory of Michelin Lanka Pvt Ltd and part of its operations in Ja-Ela have been transferred to Indian CEAT company.
The Inter Company Employees’ Union had stated there was no issue as a MoU was signed between the two companies to secure workers’ rights. According to the agreement, Michelin Lanka Pvt Ltd had pledged to honor the full service period of affected workers, while CEAT agreed to provide appropriate compensation based on their years of service, the union adds.
Michelin Lanka was previously a part of Camso Loadstar (Private) Ltd, one of the largest suppliers of industrial tyres in the global market.
The situation at Michelin Lanka follows the sudden closure of the NEXT garment factory in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone a few weeks ago, leaving over 1,400 workers jobless.
In a statement, the company cited high production costs as the reason for shutting down operations in Sri Lanka.
Chairman of the All-Ceylon Egg Producers’ Association, R.M. Sarath Rathnayake has said new measures to announce daily standardized egg prices will be introduced from next Monday (June 23) to ensure fair pricing for consumers.
The prices covering wholesale, retail, and intermediary rates will be communicated daily at 5.00am via SMS to small, medium, and large-scale egg producers, as well as bakery owners, food manufacturers, and hotels through the number 070-7030700.
He warned of recent practices where eggs were bought at Rs.15-18 and stockpiled, stating such actions will no longer be tolerated.
He also criticized groups posing as “egg associations” without actual farming experience.
The cost of producing an egg is around Rs.28 for large farms, Rs.29-30 for medium range farms, and Rs.32 for small-scale producers, he further said.
A staggering 16 billion passwords to Apple, Facebook, Google, and various US government services have been leaked online, triggering global security alerts in what experts are calling the most significant data breach in history.
The mammoth security breach has forced Google to urge billions of users to change their passwords immediately.
At the same time, the FBI has issued warnings to Americans about opening suspicious links in SMS messages.
Cybersecurity experts at Cybernews, who investigated the breach, discovered a whopping 30 exposed datasets containing between tens of millions and over 3.5 billion records each.
Perhaps most alarmingly, researchers confirmed that nearly all these exposed datasets contain previously unreported information, making this an entirely fresh security crisis.
“This is not just a leak – it’s a blueprint for mass exploitation,” the researchers said via Forbes this week.
Dimuthu Abeyesekera has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).
The CSE announced that Mr. Abeyesekera brings over 35 years of experience in the capital markets and has served on the CSE Board for the past six years.
He currently serves as the Director/CEO of Asha Securities Ltd, which is affiliated with Phillip Capital Singapore, a specialized financial services organization managing assets worth over US$ 35 billion with a network of offices around the world.
Abeysekera also currently serves as the Director at Asha Financial Services Ltd, a specialised margin Trading Company in Colombo.
