Title - Railway unions threaten strike

The National Federation of Indian Railwaymen besides several other rail employees unions have threatened a nation-wide strike in October if their long-pending demands are not met. The strike would be in support of over 38 demands that the Federation has been making since last year. The employees’ demands include better pay packages for track men, cadre restructuring, and clearance of arrears and scrapping of the new pension scheme.

Demands

In a statement issued on Sunday, M. Raghavaiah, general secretary of NFIR said: “We have decided to go on strike if our demands are not met. We have been asking for the appointment of the Seventh Pay Commission because Dearness Allowance was already 80 per cent of the basic pay and inflation was galloping. There was need for cadre restructuring of railwaymen for due promotion of three lakh employees.”Mr. Raghavaiah demanded entry grade of Rs.4,200 for station master and the abolition of the new pension scheme with enhanced fixed medical allowance from Rs.300 to Rs.1,000 for pensioners.The union leader further said the Railway Ministry should rectify the anomalies which were harming the operating staff and trackmen.