Members of the Joint Council of Action South
Zone which represents employees from the Railway, Defence, Postal and other
Central Government departments organised a protest meeting near the
Collectorate premises here on Monday.
More than 300 members of various associations,
including Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU), All India Defence Employees’
Federation (AIDEF) and National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE),
participated in the protest meeting. Zonal president Raja Sridhar and
divisional secretary J.M. Rafiq addressed the meeting.
The members also submitted a petition at the
Collectorate along with a copy of the demands adopted by the National
Convention of the Central Government Employees in December 2014.
In their 37-point charter of demands, the
employees asked for the implementation of wage revision for Central government
employees, which should be done once in every five years.
‘No privatisation’
They also demanded that no privatisation or
Foreign Direct Investment should be allowed in railways and defence
establishments, and opposed corporatisation of postal services.
Among other things, they also opposed
outsourcing and privatisation of governmental functions and asked the
government to withdraw the proposed move to close down printing presses.
Stating that many residential quarters needed
renovation, the employees urged the Central government to carry out repairs,
not to compel staff to stay in inhabitable quarters, and pay house rent allowance.
