Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Oil sector strike

The strike by the Oil Sector Officers Association, called off after the government got tough with the striking employees, was nothing short of blackmail. At a time when a number of problems are crying for the government’s attention, the creation of an artificial emergency and fear psychosis was the last thing we needed. Those who were responsible for leading the strike should be taken to task by the managements.

Shahabuddin Nadeem,

Bangalore

The three-day strike showed us how a country can be held to ransom and placed at the mercy of a group of people. It was the common man who had to bear the brunt of the strike. Commuters created traffic jams during rush hours. The entire country came to a virtual standstill.

K. Niranch,

Chennai

At the same time, a mechanism should be put in place to look into the grievances of the employees. Bureaucratisation of the existing grievance cells and their apathy towards employees’ woes led to the tense situation last week.

Ch. Abhishek,

Hyderabad

The government is to blame for the poor manner in which it handled the strike. The Petroleum Ministry should have given a patient hearing to the grievances of the oil sector employees. It resorted to delaying tactics. It was only after the officers went on strike that it tried to negotiate with OSOA but by then the situation had spiralled out of control.

Manish Kumar,

Nazira

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