BHUBANESWAR: The National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) has submitted a charter of demands to the Central Government with 25 points on wages, recruitment, gradation, allowances and health insurance.
The NFIR has threatened to go on an indefinite nationwide strike from the first week of March, 2016, if the Government fails to address its concerns, general secretary, NFIR M Raghavaiah said.
Addressing a meeting here on Sunday, Raghavaiah said the Seventh Pay Commission has been unjust to the needs of railway workers and staff. He demanded re-evaluation of minimum wage on the basis of actual commodity prices as on July 1 this year.
The Government must revise the rate of increment to five per cent and grant two increments in the feeder cadre levels and promotional benefits, he said and added that parity should be ensured for staff of Government organisations across all cadres with the staff of Central Secretariat.
Taking into account the large number of vacancies in various Government offices, contract and casual workers should be regularised, Raghavaiah said.
“A Group of Ministers (GoM) should be formed to consider the anomalies including disturbance of horizontal and vertical relativities at the national level and department or Ministry level with provision for referring the disputed issues to the Board of Arbitration,” Raghavaiah demanded.
The meeting was jointly organised by East Coast Railway Shramik Congress and NIFR, New Delhi.