Postal employees continue strike

Postal employees continue strike

Sole demand:India Post employees staging a demonstration in Madurai on Saturday.R. AshokR_ASHOK  

As part of their indefinite strike, which entered the 13th day on Saturday, a few employees of various associations of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS), the employees of India Post in rural areas, tonsured their heads as a mark of protest.

The protesters said they tonsured their head and performed the rituals done after a person’s death to symbolically indicate that the Central government was dead since it was not acting on their demands.

The workers are also observing a relay fast since Thursday.

The different associations of GDS have struck work with the sole demand of implementing the recommendations of Kamlesh Chandra Committee report that has been kept pending by the government since 2016.

According to the protesters, the recommendations of the committee included better retirement benefits and increase in maternity leave from three months to six months.

“When we went on a strike six months back, we were assured that the recommendations will be implemented in a couple of months. However, it was not done,” said M. Mathialagan, Madurai divisional secretary of All India Gramin Dak Sevak Union, one of the associations participating in the protest.

Stating that the India Post administration was trying to persuade the associations to report to work on the assurance that the recommendations would be implemented in a month’s time, Mr. Mathialagan said the associations had taken a firm stand that the protests will not be given up until the implementation.

“The only good thing about the indifferent attitude of the government is that it has brought together all the associations on the issue,” he added.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/