CWC convention cancelled following court order

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The national convention of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) which was scheduled to be held today in Colombo was cancelled yesterday following a court order obtained by Mr. M. S. Sellasamy, formerly general secretary of the party.

The CWC which is a major partner of the PA government, had intended to hold the national convention of the party as a show of its strength in the hill country of Sri Lanka where the tea plantations, from the work force of which the CWC derives its political strength, are largely located.

Colourful posters appeared all over Colombo this week announcing the national convention and showing the party's octogenarian leader, Soumyamoorthy Thondaman and his heir apparent in close conversation.

The long over due convention of the CWC was seen by many political observers in Colombo as a publicity stunt by the party's leadership to show the PA government that it is still very much a force to be reckoned with despite the crumbling worker support brought into sharp focus in recent weeks following the compromise the party reached on the strike which crippled the tea industry last month.

The party which is also a large trade union has been rocked internally by accusations that it has embezzled millions of rupees from the monthly subscriptions paid by plantation workers.

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