Railway unions threaten indefinite strike from July 11

Railway 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.

He 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.

Railways employ about 13 lakh workers and any strike would severely affect train movement and cause inconvenience to people across the country. Railway unions have sought a review of the new pension scheme and 7th Pay Commission recommendations, besides filling up of the large number of vacant posts among other demands.

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.

On 7th pay panel report, Mishra said, “The minimum wage should be increased from Rs 18,000 per month to Rs 26,000.”