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On 12th of December, the Department of Posts announced that leave of all postal staff has been cancelled as the Joint Postal Trade Union Alliance has started an island wide token strike from 4 pm on the previous day to 12 midnight on 12th December based on several demands. The Postmaster General Ranjith Ariyarathne said the decision has been taken to ensure postal services are uninterrupted following the announcement of the strike by trade unions. The demands included revising the existing overtime payment system at the Central Mail Exchange, transfer of land and buildings of the postal department to the private sector, privatization of the postal department and reduction of overtime hours, providing a maximum overtime of 240 hours to the officers in the control offices of the Department of Posts. Chintaka Bandara, the co-convener of the Alliance of trade unions said that authorities have been notified on several occasions of their grievances but to no avail