School teachers and government employees, including women, under the banner Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (JACTTO-GEO), staged demonstration in front of the Collectorate here on Monday raising slogans highlighting charter of demands.
They demanded that the old pension scheme be reintroduced in place of the contributory pension scheme, removal of anomalies in the pay structure in the Seventh Pay Commission and implementation of the recommendation of the Eighty Pay Commission. Addressing the striking teachers and government employees, T. Govindan, member of the high level committee of JACTTO-GEO, said that the government had ignored their just demands and urged it to resolve the issues raised by them.
Mr. Govindan said that the JACCTO-GEO, which restricted Monday’s agitation with just a demonstration, will intensify the same on Tuesday, when the member will resort to picketing in different centres.
He said that the striking employees will give proper explanations to the notice issued on them by the government. The teachers and government employees will continue their strike till all their demands were met, he said.
The members of JACTTO-GEO also staged demonstration in front of the taluk office in Mettur town. The employees of the judiciary in the district, all members of the Tamil Nadu Judiciary Employees Association, staged a demonstration in front of the district court on Monday, in support of the strike of the JACTTO-GEO.
CITU extends support
Members of the CITU staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate here on Monday to protest against NEET examinations.
They also demanded the government to hold negotiations with the striking school teachers and government employees under the banner JACTTO-GEO and solve the issue amicably.
C. Mayilvelan, district vice president of the CITU, led the demonstration. T. Udayakumar, district secretary of the CITU, R.Vairamani, state committee member, who spoke on the occasion said that the NEET examinations wend against the social justice system. They favour shifting of the education portfolio from the concurrent list to state list.
The speakers extended support to the JACTTO-GEO strike.
In Namakkal, the striking teachers and government employees, including women, staged demonstration on Park Road in the town on Monday.
Selvakumar, convener of the JACTTO-GEO, led the agitation.
Staff Reporter from Erode adds:
In Erode, the functioning of government offices and schools in the district remain affected as various department employees and teachers of government schools abstained from work and staged demonstration at Sampath Nagar.
The members of the organisations said that the during the election campaign, the party had promised to fulfil their demands and after coming to power, they had cheated them.
They said that their strike would be intensified if their demands were not met. Traffic was disrupted for over two hours due to their protest. In the absence of teachers, functioning of many schools was affected as students faced hardship due to the examinations that began on Monday.
They said that they would stage road blockade at district headquarters on Tuesday while they would stage protest from Wednesday.
