CLASS ORIENTED MILITANT STRUGGLE OF THREE LAKHS GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS (GDS)
"CHANGE THE POLICY OR WE SHALL CHANGE THE
GOVERNMENT"
M.Krishnan
Secretary General, Confederation
Ex-Secretary General, NFPE
The
unprecedented strike of three lakhs Gramin Dak Sevaks
of Postal
department will enter the 14th day on Monday.
Functioning of rural
postal services has come to a grinding halt. Out of
1,55,000 Post
offices, 1,29,500 rural Post offices are completely
shut down. GDS are
not demanding to give them the "Moon" from the sky.
They are demanding
their legitimate wage revision. If 32 lakhs
departmental employees wage
revision can be implemented within eight months after
submission of
Seventh CPC report, why the unjustified delay of
eighteen months for
implementation of wage revision of only three lakhs
low-paid GDS
employees? Why lamenting about the deficit of the
department only when
GDS wage revision comes? Are GDS responsible for the
deficit? No, not at
all.
Postal "Gods" and Central Government
are in deep slumber
for eighteen months, when poor GDs are
waiting..waiting..and waiting.
The strike is a natural outburst of pentup
discontentment and anger of
the marginalized section after desperately waiting for
long. Then
suddenly the sleeping "Gods" wokeup. Appeal after
appeal started pouring
in all languages just like distributing chocolates to
lure children.
But 96% of GDS stood united and continued their
struggle. They declared
they will not surrender their self-respect and
prestige, even if they
and their families are made to starve or die by
prolonging the strike.
They
know, many had lost their lives and many sacrificed
before our country
got freedom. Mahatmaji had told the Britishers "you can
kill me, but you
can not make me surrender".
They know, many
had lost their lives
and many sacrificed before the most dreaded
"apartheid" system is
legally banned and abolished in South Africa. Nelson
Mandela has taught
them “never to give up or surrender".
They
know, many had lost
their lives and many sacrificed before the "slave
system" is legally
abolished in United States. Martin Luther King had told
them "I have a
dream" and his dream had come true later.
GDS system is a "beggar
system"and nothing but slavery and bonded labour. This
heroic struggle
of GDS will definitely mark the beginning of the end of
this slave
system which is a "black mark in the face of Indian
democracy". Those
GDS and departmental employees (though in some states
only) who
participated in this historic struggle for emancipation
of the most down
trodden section of the society will be remembered for
ever in the
history and their sacrifice will never go in vain.
Those
Government's supporters in the bureaucracy are
propagating that GDS
unions have committed a great mistake and unpardonable
crime by going on
an "untimely" indefinite strike, that too all the four
Unions together.
We have only to remind them the old saying "when a
beggar come to your
house, you need not give money to him if you don’t
like, but please
don’t unleash your dogs to bite him". Let the GDS
fight for their own
destiny. Government may allow their right or not. This
struggle is not
the end of history. As long as injustice and
discrimination are there,
strikes and protests will emerge again and again like
phoenix bird from
the ashes.
Now the ball is in the court of
the Government and
Postal Department. It is they to decide how to play.
What is wrong in
inviting the GDS unions for negotiation and in reaching
an honourable
settlement, instead of distributing pamphlet type
appeals one after
another? What is the mindset of the top bureaucracy of
the Postal Board?
Are they thinking like olden days feudal landlords and
expecting the
GDS Union leaders "to obey them and not to question
them". Sorry, they
are thoroughly mistaken and they should understand the
writings on the
wall. Only mutual trust and goodwill can build
confidence in the mind of
striking GDS and that can only lead to an amicable
settlement.
We
hope that good sense will prevail upon the powers-
that-be. We want to
make it clear that any attempt to break or crush the
strike by
attempting to victimization or any other coercive
methods will only
complicate the situation and the entire Central
Government Employees
will be forced to come out to defend and protect the
striking GDS at any
cost.
Source: CONFEDERATION