Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Feb 05, 2004 |
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Government
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Trade & Labour Unions Kerala postal strike called off Our Bureau
The normally busy Ernakulam Head Post Office wears a deserted look during the strike by postal employees on Wednesday. - K.K. Mustafah
Thiruvananthapuram , Feb. 4 THE State-wide strike launched by postal employees in Kerala was called off after contentious issues were sorted with the unions at a conciliatory meeting convened by the Chief Post Master-General (CPMG) here on Wednesday. Normalcy will be restored in the next 24 hours, Ms K.N.K. Karthiyayani, the CPMG, told newspersons here after the meeting. Efforts were being made on a war-footing to clear the backlog of mails, especially in the northern districts where the strike had begun on January 21. The Railway Mail Service has been asked to start clearing operations with immediate effect. According to the CPMG, unions seemed to have been misled into declaring the strike to protest what they perceived were efforts at "privatising" postal services in the State. Such decisions are not taken at the Circle level; only the Union Cabinet can decide on such policy matters. What triggered the strike was the appointment of collection agents for Speed Post articles in Kozhikode district. The intention was to regain the business taken away by private courier services. The unions were led by vested interests into believing that this amounted to privatisation through the back door and therefore demanded cancellation of the contentious order issued by the Manager, Speed Post, Kozhikode. The CPMG clarified that the agents can only collect Speed Post, Express parcel post and e-Post articles (erstwhile satellite post) as per the orders of the Directorate, Postal Services. The collection agents will be supplied with receipt books strictly as per the guidelines issued by the Directorate and the PO receipt given to them would be withdrawn. A review of their performance would be made after six months and further expansion of the scheme would be decided only if their performance is reasonable. The CPMG reiterated that no employee would be victimised under any circumstances, upon which the three striking unions declared that they were withdrawing the agitation.
More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Kerala
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