Expressing their discontentment over the 7th Pay Commission announced by the Centre on Wednesday, railway unions have threatened for a massive strike across the country from July 11 onwards. Claiming it would be the first ever strike after 1974, the union office-bearers called on Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu and informed him about their grievances and about the imminent strike.

The unions have called for a nationwide indefinite strike by workers from July 11 to press their demands including review of new pension scheme and 7th Pay Commission recommendations.  "We will serve strike notices to railways tomorrow for going ahead with our indefinite strike from 6 AM on July 11," said All-India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) General Secretary S Gopal Mishra.

On 7th pay panel report, Mishra said, "The minimum wage should be increased from Rs 18,000 per month to Rs 26,000."  Mishra claimed the strike is "inevitable due to the nugatory attitude" of the government over the charter of demands submitted more than six months back, though they had deferred their strike from April at its instance. The unions have also sought filling up of the large number of vacant posts.

Railways employ about 13 lakh workers and any strike would severely affect trains' movement and cause inconvenience to people across the country.

Supporting the strike call, National Federation of Indian Railwaymen General Secretary M Raghavaiah said, "We will serve notices at all zonal general managers of railways tomorrow for going ahead with our strike call on July 11."

Raghavaiah said both the unions are jointly supporting the strike call. "Our demands are the same and we will go ahead together against the government's anti-labour laws," he said.