Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Move to re-employ sacked staff hailed

S. Vijay Kumar

Fill vacancies, says CITU State general secretary

MADURAI : Trade unions have welcomed the Government's move to re-employ retrenched transport workers who were appointed as casual labourers for several months and terminated later. While thanking the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, for the decision, the unions appealed that the 17-day strike period of transport employees during 2001 be treated as "on duty".

According to the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State general secretary, A. Soundararajan, the Government had solved a long-pending issue by giving an opportunity to retrenched transport workers. Steps should be taken to fill thousands of vacancies in various transport corporations. The decision to withdraw provisional appointment orders given to selected candidates for the posts of drivers and conductors during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) regime was "unfair," he said.

The Tamil Nadu Government Transport Corporation Staff Federation State general secretary, T. Thirumalaisamy, said Mr. Karunanidhi had regained the confidence of the working class by withdrawing the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA) and lifting the ban on recruitment.

He said other demands of the transport workers such as legal-heir appointments, seniority-wise promotions at all levels and cancellation of "illegal" wage settlement drafted with the AIADMK Government should also be looked into. "A comprehensive policy on service matters should be evolved."

The Labour Progressive Front's (LPF) State general secretary, M. Shanmugham, said the retrenched employees were terminated at one stroke without any notice.

"The AIADMK Government did not honour the High Court or Labour Court orders. Despite getting orders for reinstatement, the retrenched employees were left in the lurch. The LPF welcomes the decision to re-employ the workers."

The All India Trade Union Congress general secretary, J. Lakshmanan, said there was an acute shortage of staff in many corporations. While the staff strength was 1.30 lakh during 1992, it had come down to 1.18 lakh now owing to superannuation and voluntary retirements.

The Pattabiraman Committee recommendations on manpower allotment per bus and the International Labour Organisation norms on working hours should be enforced. The concept of double or triple duty should be avoided on safety grounds. The number of accidents involving State-owned buses in Tamil Nadu was high compared to others, he added.

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