The joint action committee of railway employees and labour unions has called for an indefinite strike from July 11 in protest against the Seventh Pay Commission.

Protests against PM

Employees walked out of the railway station after the Bidar-Yeshwanthpur train left at 6 p.m. recently. They held placards and shouted slogans against the Union government. They also shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance Minister Arun Jaitley. They demanded the closing of the Bibek Debroy Committee on Mobilization of Resources for Major Railway Projects and Restructuring of Railway Ministry and Railway Board.

The protesters also burnt an effigy of Mr. Modi.

‘More deductions’

“The much-hyped Pay Commission report is eyewash. It does not increase the salaries of any employee substantially. The increases are slight but the deductions have been increased by several times. The net result is that we are getting lesser money than we could be getting after the Sixth Pay Commission. This is the worst Pay Commission since Independence,” Ramesh Kumar, president, Bidar unit, South Central Railway Employees Union, said.

Addressing his colleagues, Mr. Kumar added that the Pay Commission and the share market linked new pension scheme were sounding a death knell to Union government employees.

Mr. Modi, a leader who has claimed to have risen to the post of PM after selling tea in railway stations in his childhood, has betrayed railway employees, he said.

False claims

Members of Parliament have doubled their salaries without referring it to any committee. But we have got a raw deal even after 10 years of a committee of experts deliberating on the issue, he said.

Our demands for five promotions in the service of an employee and the annual five per cent increments have been neglected. However, the Union government is getting undeserved publicity by falsely claiming that its employees are getting a bonanza, he alleged.

BJP had opposed FDI in Railways vehemently when it was in the Opposition. Now however, the party has opened up Railways for 100 per cent FDI. This will destroy the Railways, Mr. Kumar said.

Abdul Rehman, Venkatesh, Basavaraj, Suresh Babu, Balaji, Sharanappa and other leaders were present.

Railway employees and labour unions call for an indefinite strike against the Seventh Pay Commission