Workers' Councils and Advisory Committees' also known as Peoples' Committees (ජනතා කමිටු) were ad hoc committees established by the

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...

(UF) government in Sri Lanka between 1970 and 1975. Based on the Workers' Councils in Yugoslavia, the

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...

(LSSP) proposed the formation of Workers' Councils as far back as 1951. This was included in the manifesto of the coalition between the LSSP and the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...

(SLFP) and was rejected in the

1965 Ceylonese parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in March 1965. Background The SLFP government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike lost its majority in December 1964 when some MPs deserted it over the nationalization of Lakehouse Newspapers. Bandaranaike's p ...

. Following the victory of the United Front in the

1970 Ceylonese parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ceylon in 1970. Background SLFP leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike had come to the conclusion that her party's best hope of power was forming a permanent alliance with Ceylon's Marxist parties. She assembled the ...

, the new government began setting up Workers' Councils, Advisory Committees, and Peoples' Committees to transform the administration to work closely with the people. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the framework of Workers' Councils under the Public Administration Circular, No. 8 of 15 August 1970, establishing Workers' Councils in several public corporations on the instructions of the respective Ministers. Advisory Committees were established in government departments. As per the Circular, these Councils and Committees had powers to "draw attention to acts of neglect of duty, undue delay, wastage of public funds; advise on measures designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness, to effect economies in running the institutions; and ask for and obtain information from management on all matters". These soon came into conflict with the trade unions of the organizations. Staff grade officers were excluded from these committees. Ministerial control over the committees meant they soon became "Ministerial appendages".

References

Sri Lanka Freedom Party Politics of Sri Lanka Workers' councils {{SriLanka-poli-stub

See also

References