Postal staff strike total

Postal services in the city were hit after postal department staff boycotted work for the third day on Thursday.

The staff are demanding implementation of the recommendations of the Kamlesh Chandra Committee on pay revision of Grameen Dak Sevaks.

The GPO at Pulimoodu wore a deserted look as the employees, under the aegis of the National Federation of Postal Employees, kept off work. All 76 sub-offices under the GPO were closed. It was a similar situation in the Thiruvananthapuram South postal division, they said.

Federation district convener Ashok Kumar said the Kamlesh Chandra Committee had submitted its report to the Union government in November 2016. However, the Centre was dragging its feet on implementing its recommendations. Some of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for Union government staff had come into effect in 2016. However, the Grameen Dak Sevaks who performed similar services as department postal staff were being denied due pay and benefits.

A Grameen Dak Sevak would get a maximum of ₹12,000 a month, while a regular worker, say in the postman cadre, would get ₹30,000, he said. Besides an increase in dearness allowance, they did not get any other benefits. The Grameen Dak Sevaks, it was pointed out, were well qualified, and their pay was not commensurate with their qualifications.

The Union government’s neglect was affecting nearly 9,000 Grameen Dak Sevaks in the State and over 2.5 lakh across the country, he said. “All we are seeking is the implementation of the pay revision recommendations. It is regrettable that the public, especially those in the rural areas, were being affected owing to the Union government’s apathy to our plight.”

The protest on Thursday was inaugurated by C.P. Narayanan, MP. Leaders of various employee organisations addressed the protesters.

Postal services have been affected across the State. Regular employees had boycotted work in the State and in six other States to extend support to the nationwide protest by the Grameen Dak Sevaks, Mr. Ashok Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the All India Forward Bloc State committee has demanded that talks be held urgently to settle the nationwide indefinite strike. In a statement here, V. Ram Mohan, State general secretary of the Forward Bloc, criticised the Union government for pushing the postal employees to the strike, and accused it of arrogance for not holding talks with the postal staff.

The strike had affected those awaiting job letters, including that from the State Public Service Commission and postal savings bank and life insurance transactions, and postal ATMs had gone silent, the statement said.

The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi State committee, in a statement, said the strike had put the public, especially the trading community that depended on post offices for daily transactions, to much hardship. They included people with postal savings account and those sending consignments through postal parcel service, causing losses running into lakhs of rupees, it said.