Railway employees all over the country are on a warpath with the Government which may culminate in a general strike disrupting train services all over India, according to N Kannaih, working president, All India Railway Men’s Federation.
Addressing a mammoth rally held at the premises of the Southern Railway headquarters in Chennai on Wednesday, Kannaiah accused the UPA Government of cheating hundreds of thousands of Railway employees in the country by not removing the anomalies in the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission made in 2008.
“The Union Government has come out with an announcement about the constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission to cheat us. They have not bothered to address the disparities in the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission though many negotiations were held with the representatives of the employees. We have submitted a charter of 36 demands incorporating various issues faced by the railway employees. If the Railway Ministry fails to accede to our demands, we are left with no other alternatives but to strike work,” Kannaiah said.
He said the AIRF is holding a referendum in the form of a secret ballot among railway workers all over the country for an indefinite strike. “The results of the secret ballot would be announced on December 23. The representatives of the AIRF would meet in New Delhi in January 2014 to discuss the results of the secret ballot and to decide the day to launch the all India agitation,” he said.
The charter of demands submitted by the AIRF include jobs for the wards of railway employees who die in the course of their duty. “On an average, 1,000 railway men lay down their lives every year in the course of their duty on account of attacks by extremists and accidents. The job of a railway man has become risky and comparable next only to military personnel,” said Kanniah.
The AIRF has also demanded the guaranteed pension scheme instead of the UPA Government’s New Pension Scheme which is seen as anti-workers’ move. The last time railway men in the country went on an indefinite strike was in 1974 which literally crippled the movement of the nation for almost three weeks.
Employees working in various units of the Southern Railway said they did not foresee any strikes which would affect normal functioning of the railways. “This is just another muscle
flexing. We are all aware of what will happen in the event of a general strike. We will never be a part to make life difficult for the common man,” said a senior employee of Southern Railway.