A one-day strike called by a section of government employees and teachers on Thursday to press for their charter of demands disrupted the functioning of offices and educational institutions across the State.
While the Chief Minister’s Office claimed that the turnout at the Secretariat here was 72 per cent and the average turnout in the districts was 67 per cent, the service organisations claimed that the strike had completely paralysed the functioning of all offices.
While the action council of State Employees and Teachers Organisations (SETO) and the Samara Samithi of Employees and Teachers owing allegiance to the Left Democratic Front (LDF) gave a joint call, the Federation of Employees and Teachers Organisations (FETO) gave a separate call for the strike.
Charter
The charter of demands of the service organisations, among other things, included time-bound revision of salary and benefits, 20 per cent of the basic pay as interim relief, and repeal the move to do away with 30,000 posts.
The Chief Minister’s Office said in an official communiqué that the attendance in the offices in Thiruvananthapuram was 77 per cent, Kollam 61, Pathanamthitta 64, Alappuzha 66, Kottayam 51, Ernakulam 58, Idukki 72, Thrissur 64, Palakkad 84, Malappuram and Kozhikode 70, Wayanad 69, Kannur 66, and Kasaragod 71 per cent.
Skirmishes
Mild skirmishes took place between NGO Association and NGO Union activists on the Vikas Bhavan and Public Office premises and also at the Kannur Collectorate.
Kerala Gazetted Officers Association (KGOA) general secretary K. Sivakumar said in a statement that the strike paralysed the functioning of the Tax Towers here, engineering colleges, directorates, and collectorates.
The strike reflected the public resentment against the government’s repressive measures, Mr. Sivakumar said.
FETO general secretary P. Sunil Kumar said in a statement that the majority of the employees participated in the strike ignoring the government threat to impose dies non.
