Non-Gazetted Govt. Officers' Association alongwith CITU has organized Mass Dharna, Processions and Public
Meetings throughout the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands in support of the All India Strike of the central trade unions and employees’
organizations on 2nd September, 2016 to protest against the
anti-working class policies of the
central government. At Port
Blair, a Mass Dharna was organized at Tiranga Park, participated by government employees
and workers. Inaugurating the Mass Dharna, B.Chandrachoodan, General Secretary,
CITU State Committee criticized the central government for amending the labour
laws in favour of corporate houses and multi-national companies. He condemned the lethargic attitude adopted
by a number of government departments under the A & N Administration towards
resolving the demands raised by the Unions of workers working under it. D. Laxman Rao, CITU leader while addressing
the gathering said that the NDA government at the Centre has miserably failed
to address the problems being faced by the islanders. Addressing the gathering
T.S.Sreekumar, General Secretary, NGOs’ Association briefly explained all the demands
concerning the central govt. employees which are being highlighted during the
All India Strike. GP Mondal, Vice President and SL Vinjit, Secretary of the
South Andaman Teachers’ Branch of the Association also addressed the
gathering. Later in the evening, a
massive procession was taken out at the Port Blair town in which, despite heavy
rain, a large number of employees and workers participated. The procession was
led by M. Boominathan, President of CITU A & N State Committee and P. Sathyapal, President and SN Mishra, Vice President of the Non-Gazetted
Govt. Officers’ Association.
At Diglipur, mass dharna was organized in which large number of workers and employees participated
which was led by Madan Mohan Das,
Secretary, CITU North Andaman Zonal Committee, Smt Rukdhani Toppo, Barun
Biswas, CITU leaders and S.
Arumugam, Deepak Karmakar and GC Dey, leaders of NGOs’ Association.
At Billiground mass procession was organized in which government
employees and workers participated. NGOs’
Association leaders S. Bawali, Mritunjay Biswas, S.R.Mirdha, Saatyaban Gain and
CITU leader Gopikulam led the programme.
At Rangat, a mass
demonstration was held in front of the office of the Assistant Commissioner,
participated by workers and employees. VK Krishnadas and Karuppaiah, CITU leaders and
Association leaders Adaickan, Suresh
Kumar, Natarajan and Ali Akbar led the programme.
At
Baratang, massive procession was taken out in which a large number of workers participated which was led by Daniel Aint, Vice President, CITU and Jayakumar. At Kadamtala, massive procession was taken out in which
considerable number of workers participated which was led by Smt Shipra Bala,
CITU State Committee Member.
The
issues highlighted during
the All India Strike by central trade unions include (1) urgent measures to contain price rise (2)
measures to contain rising unemployment in the country (3) minimum wages
of Rs. 18,000/- per month for all workers, (4) stoppage of contractorisation of permanent and
perennial nature of work and payment of same wages and benefits for contract workers also (5) strict enforcement of all basic
labour laws (6) social security cover for all workers and
minimum pension of Rs. 3,000 per
month wherever it is less than Rs. 3000.
(7) Removal of all ceilings on payment
and eligibility of bonus, provident fund; increase the quantum of gratuity (8)
Stoppage of disinvestment in central/state PSUs, against FDI in Railways,
Insurance and Defence (9) to scrap New Pension Scheme (10) remove ceiling on
compassionate ground appointments (11) Lift ban on creation of posts and fill
up all vacant posts, etc.
