The divisional committee of the All India Stationmasters’ Association (AISMA) will soon decide on the date and mode of agitation being chalked out by stationmasters for the legitimate trade union activities and withdrawal of the move to implement unscientific roster, among other things.
A decision to this effect was taken at the zonal executive meeting of the association that was held here on Friday after the convention held here to support the demands put forward by the station masters. The zonal executive has given the nod for organising the strike.
Earlier, CPI(M) leader and former Rajya Sabha MP, K. Chandran Pillai inaugurated the convention. CPI(M) district secretary Kadakampally Surendran and AISMA divisional secretary Sarath Chandran were present at the convention.
The demands put forward by the association include unconditional apology from the Divisional Railway Manager for making derogatory remarks by him and the senior railway officials against the railway staff.
The association said there was a tactical move to reduce the importance of Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad railway divisions in the State by rearranging them to create new divisions with headquarters at Mangalore and Tirunelveli. This was to thwart the long-pending demand of a separate Zonal Railway for Kerala, the AISMA alleged.
The other demand of the association is urgent steps to increase the cadre strength of all employees in the division to the required level as per the benchmarking, and other set parameters and an end to the move to withdraw deployed staff from existing stations and creation of posts for new assets.
