The Hindu : Another strike seems inevitable: NGO Union

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Another strike seems inevitable: NGO Union

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MAY 1. The 40th State conference of the Kerala NGO Union concluded here this afternoon with the declaration that the Government's negative stand on the employees' demands could make another strike inevitable.

A resolution on the plan of action for the future, adopted by the conference, pointed out that State employees were forced to launch an indefinite strike last year when the Government refused to follow up on the promise it had given to the unions on March 9, 2002, to hold talks with the employees. The employees may have to resort to another strike if the Government were to restore the curtailed benefits of employees, release DA arrears and begin wage revision measures, the resolution said.

The conference called upon the State employees to ready themselves for joint struggles to defeat the `anti-people' policies of the Government and said that the civil service could survive, wage revision and restoration of curtailed benefits achieved and Kerala saved from total collapse only through mass struggles involving all sections of the population. Civil servants should discharge their duties with responsibility and stand by the masses to achieve the common goals, it said.

The resolution cautioned the employees against attempts being made by communal and casteist forces to divide them on caste and communal lines and said unless strenuous efforts were made, it would become impossible to preserve the unity of the employees and resist the economic and political measures being intiated by the ruling classes with the help of global capital. The 32-day strike was a step in this direction and it derived the support of the masses on account of the people's realisation that the strike had larger goals. The strike had deep and far-reaching impact on Kerala society as it metamorphosed from a mere struggle over a wage issue into a struggle against globalisation, the resolution said.

The three-day conference concluded this afternoon after electing a 32-member women's sub-committee. The former NGO Union leader, T. K. Balan, MLA, and the All India State Government Employees' Federation honorary chairman, M. R. Appan, addressed the delegates.

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