The secretary of Ethera Api organization of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Nipunaarachchi said that about 150,000 Sri Lankans had not received the benefits of Cypress Social Security Fund.
He pointed out that 7.5% of the workers' salary and 7.5% from the employer are contributed to this fund. Thus, 15% of the workers' monthly salary was deposited in this fund but the employees have not received any benefit.
"No Sri Lankan employee has received the benefits of this fund when they left the job. Some employees had worked about 15 years in Cypress. For example, one employee has calculated that she must receive three million rupees. This is big money for them who mostly live in poverty after returning from service abroad. Some people struggled many years to get this money and died in desperation," Nipunaarachchi said.
No government has attended the issue of Cypress Social Security Fund of the Sri Lankan expatriate workers. The issue was cited by Sri Lankan workers in Cypress to the present Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa also when he toured in Cypress as the Minister of Labour.
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| Lakshman Nipunaarachchi |
Ethera Api organization pointed out that states like Philippine had discussed with Cypress diplomatically and obtained this money belonged to their nationals.
About 150,000 Sri Lankans have either worked in the past or working now in Cypress for a number of years.
On October 02, over 2,000 people agitated in Colombo to focus the attention of the government on this issue. Two coordinating officers discussed with the representatives of the protesting people and promised a discussion with the relevant authorities within two weeks but did not deliver the promise, Ethera Api organization pointed out.
(Cover photo: Consulate General Of Sri Lanka, Cyprus)
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