Railway union threatens indefinite strike from 11 July
The Railway union is demanding minimum pay of Rs26,000 as against Rs18,000 recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, scrapping of new pension scheme and no FDI in railways
New Delhi: The National Federation Of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) on Friday said its members will go an indefinite strike starting 11 July. The federation is demanding minimum pay of ₹ 26,000 as against Rs18,000 recommended by the Seventh Central Pay Commission, scrapping of new pension scheme and giving up foreign direct investment in railways.
Railways at present employs around 1.3 million workers and a strike would severely impact operations. The federation in a press statement said it would hold a demonstration before parliament on 24 June. Notices were served to all zonal railway general managers on Thursday, it said.
Federation general secretary M. Raghavaiah said NFIR decided to go ahead with the strike, since the central government was not receptive to its charter of demands submitted in December. Consequently, all central government employees totalling over 32 lakh people took a unanimous decision on 3 June to go on strike from 11 July, he said.
The NFIR wants the government to scrap the Bibek Debroy Committee report and implement the positive recommendations of a High Power Committee. It also wants the government to drop what it calls anti-worker amendments in labour laws, ensure parity in pay structure and scope for promotions for common categories with those working in the Central Secretariat.
The federation complained that injustice is being done to railway employees like technicians and technical supervisors in respect of the allotment of Seventh Pay Commission.
The biggest strike in Indian Railways was in 1974 when 1.7 million employees stayed off work for 20 days in a strike led by then All-India Railwaymen’s Federation president George Fernandes after the government refused to raise the pay scale of railway employees. Thousands of railway employees went to jail or lost jobs as the government cracked down.
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