12 Jan, 2013 10:20 AM

General Strike on20th and 21st February, 2013

On the two days General Strike of the working class.

20^th and 21^st February, 2013.

The National Secretariat met on 2.1.2012. The meeting reviewed the extent of participation in the strike action of 12^th December, 201 as also the efforts undertaken by the affiliates/State Committees/National Sectt. Members and others for making it a grand success. The meeting approved the conclusions, contained in and conveyed by our Circular letter No.20/2012 dated 14^th December, 2012 and the Pres Statement issued on the day of strike. It was however, saddening to note that some of the State Committees and affiliates had not sent in the report requisitioned in the format to enable the Sectt. To take concrete steps to remove any deficiency noted during the campaign. The meeting decided to convey our sincere thanks and felicitation to all the leaders, rank and file of the membership in making the strike action the best participated and for the intensive campaign unleashed in the process.

The meeting then discussed at length the steps to be taken to make the two day general strike slated for 20^th and 21^st Feb, 2013 a resounding success amongst the Central Government employees. Many comrades opined that the two day strike being a bold attempt, will face certain difficulties and steps must be taken to overcome those with systematic and sustained campaign programme. Since the AIDEF has decided to join the two days strike action, it must further enthuse our rank and file. The meeting also noted that unlike 12^th December, 2012, there would be general mobilization of the working class throughout the country which must help out immensely in our campaign. The meeting, therefore, decided that the affiliates and Stat e Committees must embark upon an extensive campaign programme reiterating the 15 point charter of demands on which we already had organized a day’s strike along with the national issues, which are being focused by the entire working class in the country. The meeting also noted that since the INTUC and BMS have decided to join the strike action, their affiliates amongst the Central Government employees might participate in the strike giving impetus to the action. The criticism normally erupts whenever we go for industrial action might not be emerging this time. While these are positive factors to make the strike successful, the 48 hour duration of the strike might instill a certain amount of reluctance on the part of our members. This must be taken as a challenge and the campaign must specifically address to erase this reluctance.

As in the past, it has been decided that the National leaders of the Confederation will visit the State Capitals and certain other centres along with the NFPE leaders and organize meetings of activists and members during the months of January and February, 2013. The State Committees are requested to utilize the presence of these leaders and organize atleast (minimum) two meetings to be addressed by them. A chart depicting the names of the leaders and the Stations assigned to them is enclosed. The State committees will decide upon the date/dates of the meeting and will convey the same to the visiting comrades immediately This campaign must be completed by 5^th Feb. 2013 at the latest leaving the rest of the days in the month of Feb. for the State leaders and leaders of the affiliates to concentrate on campaign programmes in the Districts. The State Committees may also get in touch with the other middle class organizations and ensure whether any State/District conventions could be organized jointly. We must ensure that the extent of participation of our comrades in the ensuing general strike on 20rth and 21st Feb. surpasses the number of comrades participated in the one day strike on 12.12.2012

We must convey to our comrades effectively during the campaign that so long as the present economic policies remain the governing principle of governance there may not be any justice imparted to the employees and meaningful negotiation will come about on the basis of strength, unity and struggle only. We must also convey to them that our next step would be to organize an indefinite strike in association with all sections of the Central Government employees. We may in this connection refer to our letter our President has written to Com. Shivgopal Misra, General Secretary, All India Railwaymen Federation (which is already placed on our website). We expect a positive response from the AIRF in the near future. We must articulate our demand for the abolition of the present Pay Band and Grade Pay System and bring back the pay scale structure in the next wage revision. The 7^th CPC must not be allowed to water down the computation of minimum wage. The Commission should also have the requisite authority to go into various anomalies created by the 6^th CPC and address those in consultation with the Staff Side. Above all, this strike is emphatically to bring back the defined benefit pension scheme in replacement of the contributory scheme introduced with effect from 1.1.2004

Do everything needed to make the two days strike action a grand success by the largest participation of our members and with greetings,

Yours fraternally,

K.K.N. Kuttry.

Secretary General.

P.S. The Charter of Demands for the Two Days Strike contains two Parts. The First Part viz., the Part-I contains common issues of Indian Working Class and the Part-II contains the specific issues of Central Government Employees on which we have conducted the recent token strike on 12.12.12. Both Part-I and Part-II are reproduced below:

CHARTER OF DEMANDS FOR TWO DAYS STRIKE

PART – I

Take concrete measures to contain Price rise.
Take concrete measures for linkage of employement protection with the concession / incentive package offered to the entrepreneurs.
Ensure strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measures for violation of labour laws.
Universal social security cover for the unorganised sector workers without any restriction and creation of a National Social Security Fund with adequate resources in line with the recommendation of NCEUS and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour.
Stoppage of disinvestment in Central and State PSUs.
No Contractorisation of work permanent/perennial nature and payment of wages and benefits to the contract workers at the same rate as available to the regular workers of the industry / establishment.
Amendment of Minimum Wages Act to ensure universal coverage irrespective of the schedules and fixation of statutory minimum wage at not less than Rs.10,000/-.
Remove all ceilings on payment and eligibility of Bonus, Provident Fund; Increase the quantum of gratuity.
Assured statutory Pension for all.
Ensure Compulsory registration of trade unions within a period of 45 days and immediate ratification of the ILO Conventions Nos.87 and 98.

PART – II

Revise the wages of the Central Government employees including Gramin Dak Sewaks with effect from 1.1.2011 and every five years thereafter by setting up the 7^th CPC.
Merge DA with Pay for all purposes with effect from 1.1.2011 including for Gramin Dak Sweaks.
Remove restriction imposed on compassionate appointments and the discrimination on such appointments between the Railway workers and other Central Government Employees.
[a] Departmentalise all Gramin Dak Sweaks and grant them all benefits of regular employees; End Bonus discrimination and enhance bonus ceiling to 3500/-; Withdraw open market recruitment in Postman / MTS cadre; Revise cash handling norms; Grant full protection of TRCA; Grant Time Bound Promotion and Medical Reimbursement facility etc.

[b] Regularise the daily rated, contingent, casual workers and introduce a permanent scheme for periodical regularization. Pending regularization, provide them with pro-rata salary at 6th CPC rates.

(a) Revive the functioning of the JCM. Convene the meeting of the Departmental Councils in all Ministries/Departments. Settle the anomalies raised in the National Anomaly Committee as also in the Departmental Anomaly Committees. Hold National Council meetings as specified in the JCM constitution. (b) Remove the anomalies in the MACP Scheme.(c) Grant recognition to all Associations/Federations, which have complied with the formalities and conditions stipulated in the CCS(RSA) Rules.
Fill up all vacant posts and creates posts n functional requirements.
Stop downsizing outsourcing, contractorization, corporatization and privatization of Government functions.
Stop Price rise; Strengthen the PDS.
(a) Stop the proposal to introduce the productivity linked wage system; (b) discard the performance related pay structure; (c) introduce PLB in all Departments; (d) remove the ceiling on emoluments for bonus computation.
Revise the OTA, Night duty allowance and clothing rates.
Implement all arbitration awards.
Make the right to strike a legal and fundamental right of the Government employees on par with the other section of the working class.
Grant Five promotions to all employees as is provided for in the case of Group-A services.
(a) Withdraw the PFRDA Bill. (b) Rescind the decision to allow FDI in pension sector;(c) Scrap the new contributory pension scheme (d) Extend the existing statutory defined pension scheme to all Central Govt. employees irrespective of their date of entry in Government service.
Vacate all Trade Union victimisation, and more specifically in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.

Tour programme:

Sl. No	Station	Name (s) of visiting Comrades	NFPE
1.	Thiruvananthapuram	KKN Kutty	M.Krishnan
2.	Chennai/Pondicherry	KKN Kutty K.Ragavendran M.Doraipandian.	S.Ragupathy
3.	Bangalore	SK Vyas	K.V.Sridharan
4.	Hyderabad	M. S. Raja	R.Sivannarayana
5.	Mumbai	SK Vyas	D.K.Rahate
6.	Nagpur	K.P.Rajgopal	P.Suresh
7.	Ahmedabad	SK Vyas	R.N.Parashar
8.	Bhopal	KKN Kutty	R.N.Parashar
9.	Raipur	M. S. Raja	P.Suresh
10.	Jaipur	KKN Kutty	R.N.Parashar
11.	Lucknow	SK Vyas	Giriraj Singh
12.	Bhubaneswar	KKN Kutty	Pranab Bhattacharjee
13.	Kolkata	KKN Kutty	S.P.Mukherjee
14.	Guwahati/NE	MS Raja	S.K.Burdhan
15.	Chandigarh	SK Vyas	I.S.Dabas
16.	Delhi	MS Raja	All GS +R.N.Parashar
17.	Ranchi	KP Rajgopal	I.S.Dabas
18.	Patna	PiPijush Roy jush	Giriraj Singh
19.	Jullunder,amritsar,ludhiana, rohtak,ambala	V Bhatttacharya	Giriraj Singh &I.S.Dabas
20.	Shillong	MS Raja	Pranab Bhattacharjee
21	Dehardun	SK Vyas	I.S.Dabas
22	Shimla	K.K.N.Kutty	R.N.Parashar
23	Pune	Ashok Salunkhe, RP. Singh.	D.K.Rahate

Attention: STRIKE NOTICE FOR FEBRUARY 20-21 TWO DAYS STRIKE SHALL BE SERVED BY ALL ORGANISATIONS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL AND ALSO AT ALL LEVELS TO THE RESPECTIVE HEAD OF THE OFFICE ON 22.01.2013. THE EXACT FORMAT OF THE STRIKE NOTICE WILL BE SHORTLY EXHIBITED IN THE WEBSITE.

Source : http://confederationhq.blogspot.in/2013/01/confederation-circular-on-february.html