The Association of Engineering Service Professionals says the teacher-principal strike action has become what it is today, due to the responses received from the government.
Union President Kelum Priyantha taking to social media said the issue of salary anomalies remains unresolved for the past 24 years.
He said they did not have a long term plan to carry out a strike during the pandemic.
Priyantha noted teachers were encouraged to speak out on issues within the education sector.
He added the Kotelawala Defence University Act was the pivotal point, alongside attempts to tarnish free education that prompted students and teachers to protest on roads.
He said it was a long-term issue that emerged during this struggle.
Also speaking at the discussion Senior Lecturer of the University of Peradeniya Janaka Warnakulasuriya says despite public outcry over the strike action, the issue had been running for long enough without addressing teacher principal concerns.
Warnakulasuriya claimed teachers must be considered as human and be treated as such to function in freedom and educate students.
