CHENNAI: As the talks between three state ministers and JACTTO-GEO — a federation of unions of government employees and teachers — and other unions held on Monday over the latter’s 10-point charter of demands failed to make headway, the unions have declared that they would go ahead with their indefinite strike from January 6.
The talks at the secretariat lasted for around three hours. The ministers — EV Velu, Thangam Thennarasu and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi — did not meet the reporters after the meeting. Representatives of a few unions expressed disappointment over the way the talks were held.
The government employees and teachers have been pressing the government to fulfill their demands, particularly the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, pointing out that it was an election promise of the DMK during the 2021 Assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference later in the day, JACTTO-GEO’s three state coordinators — K Baskaran, S Prabhakaran and Theodore Robinson — said they will begin preparatory meetings for the stir on December 27 in all district headquarters and will start their indefinite strike on January 6.
The coordinators said, at the beginning of the talks, the ministers’ team requested them to put forth their demands, and they would revert after discussing them with the chief minister, so that the employees could expect an announcement ahead of the Pongal festival.
‘Present govt is under control of IAS officers’
“This attitude shocked us since the government knows our demands well, and asking us to repeat the same is like bringing the whole process that lasted for four years back to square one,” they added. At the beginning of the meeting itself, the JACTTO-GEO office-bearers made it clear that they would not submit any fresh demand, and instead wanted the ministers to offer the government’s response to their long-pending demands, the coordinators said.
They further pointed out, “Today’s meeting made one thing clear to us. The present government is under the control of IAS officers. Even if the government is willing, the bureaucracy will not allow it to move further. The state government has forced us into an indefinite strike.”
Coordinator Baskaran said the unions took part in the meeting with big hope, but the ministers handed out a big disappointment. The unions would overcome any attempt to stall the protest and move ahead until the demands are met, he said. Prabhakaran said the JACTTO-GEO condemns the state government for its inability to get the final report from the committee, which was set up to decide on a suitable pension scheme for its employees, even though the last date was on September 30.