Sri Lankan trade union leader denies tea company urged him not to stage staff strike
- Published on September 30, 2024 at 10:43
- 4 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
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A Sri Lankan trade union leader and member of the island nation's new Marxist-leaning president's party has denied receiving a purported letter circulated online from a leading tea exporting company about a threatened strike. Tea company Dilmah separately told AFP the letter was not genuine. The posts circulated shortly before 55-year-old Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the South Asian country's presidential election in a landslide victory.
The letter -- dated May 14, 2021 -- appeared to have been signed by Merrill J. Fernando, Dilmah's founder who passed away in 2023 (archived links here and here).
It was addressed to Wasantha Samarasinghe, a former member of parliament from the People's Liberation Party (JVP), led by president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
As of September 2024, Samarasinghe was a central committee member of the JVP and an executive committee member of the National People's Power (NPP) (archived links here and here).
He was also the convenor of the National Trade Union Coordination Centre and the president of the Inter-Company Employees' Union (archived links here and here).
"Dilmah's old files are leaked. Here are the letters sent to Wasantha Samarasinghe, when Merrill Fernando was there, asking them not to strike," read a Sinhala-language Facebook post sharing the purported letter on September 13, 2024.
"Will the JVPs build the country? They took ransom from a person who took our country to the world," the caption continued.
The post circulated weeks before 55-year-old JVP leader Dissanayake won the presidential vote in a landslide promising to reverse steep tax hikes, raise public servant salaries and renegotiate the International Monetary Fund rescue package secured by his predecessor (archived link).
The false post's caption implied that the JVP could not be trusted to rebuild the debt-stricken country as it had a history of staging strikes and protests.
The same caption was also added below the image of the letter, as shown in the screenshot below:
The letter read in part: "As requested by you earlier, we are happy to inform you that we have paid Sri Lankan rupee 15 million as the second instalment of the annual contribution fee.
"However a person said to be from your organisation threatened us, saying they will start a strike."
Similar false claims were shared on Facebook here and here; and on social media site X (formerly Twitter).
The purported letter was also shared on WhatsApp, as shown below:
In posts on his official Facebook page here and here, Samarasinghe said he never received the purported letter, saying it was "fake".
"The Dilmah letter written by Ranil-Sajith mud force is completely false," one post read, referring to supporters of ex-president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
Tea company Dilmah also refuted the false posts circulating online in an official note sent to AFP in September 2024.
"We categorically deny the authenticity of this circulating letter and its contents," read the note signed by company secretary Jayanga Wegodapola (archived links here and here).
The style of the official note's heading, footer and logos differed from the presentation of the false letter shared online.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the letter shared in false posts (left) and Dilmah's letter to AFP (right):
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