Postal staff defer strike plan

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 1. Postal employees tonight decided to defer their indefinite strike scheduled to begin tomorrow by 70 days following an assurance from the Union Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, to settle some demands within 90 days. The assurance came after two rounds of hectic negotiations between the unions and the Minister and his aides.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Paswan met the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, twice in an attempt to persuade him to accept one of the key demands put forward by the three federations of postal unions. Among others, the federations have insisted that the Government regularise the services of over three lakh part- time postmen, known in technical parlance as ``extra departmental agents''. The unions want the Government to immediately implement all positive recommendations of a committee which had examined the service conditions of the ED agents, who man the postal network in the country's hinterland.

Before deciding on deferring the strike, the union officials had reiterated their decision to go in for the strike owing to the Government's intransigent attitude towards ED employees for the past several years.

The unions had gone on strike twice in the recent past pressing these demands. On both occasions, the strikes were called off after the Government assured them that it would sympathetically look into the demands.

The unions are also pressing for revision of pay scales in certain categories. This demand, it is expected, will enable them to garner the sympathies of full-time postal staff in urban areas.

Sources close to the Union Communications Minister said they could not offer anything more than sympathetic consideration of demands owing to the Finance Ministry's refusal to accept regularisation of ED agents because such a move would entail a huge outgo of additional funds. Moreover, regularisation of ED agents would also entail a major increase in bureaucracy which the Finance Ministry is in no position to sanction.

This was the position explained to the federations by Mr. Paswan and senior postal officials both yesterday and today. The two days of talks were preceded by an open appeal by Mr. Paswan to the unions to defer the strike.

The three federations who have given the strike call are the National Federation of Postal Organisations, the Federation of National Postal Organisations and the Bharatiya Postal Employees Federation.

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