Union Politicization in Sri Lanka

                         There were several research has been conducted by local and foreign scholars on the subject of Union Politicization in Sri Lanka. According to the researchers, almost all the unions of the public sector are politicized with the main popular political parties of Sri Lanka (Biyanwilla, 2003). Employee unions are basically concerned with gaining the political power for the party with which the unions are attached. All main political parties have their specific employee union reflected as labor arm of their parties (Kearney, 1971). Because of that, trade unions have been an opportunity for politicians to convey their political Ideologies to each other. even though most of the unions are based on socialists political ideologies, capitalist political parties also have their specific employee unions in most organizations. Uyangoda, (2000) pointed out that the trade unions in Sri Lanka are associated with both socialist and capitalist political ideology.

                Murillo, M. V. & Ronconi, L., (2004) pointed out that it was the political influence of unions that lead them more to strike actions than other causes. According to the above findings and conclusions, it is clear that politicization is one of the main characteristics of trade unions in Sri Lanka. Therefore human resource managers have to consider this union politicization fact, especially who are in the public or semi-government sector, to maintain a proper employee relationship with employees.

References

Biyanwilla, 2003. Trade Union in Sri lanka under Globalization, s.l.: The university of Western Australia.

Kearney, R. N., 1971. Trade Unions and Politics in Ceylon, New Delhi: Thomas Press India (PVT) limited.

Murillo, M. & Ronconi, L., 2004. Teaches' Strikes in Agentina. Pnartisan allignment and public sector labour relation, 39(1), pp. 77-98.

Uyangoda, J., 2000. Sri Lanka's Develoipment since Independence, New York: Nova Science Publishers.