The Hindu : Unions see positive signs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Unions see positive signs

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai July 16. Even as the administrative machinery has remained hit in Tamil Nadu for a fortnight now and thousands of dismissed government staff members continue to agonise over their lost jobs, key staff unions today claimed that there were "positive signs" of the Government stepping in to end the impasse.

"There are positive indications that the Government is working out an action-plan to end the crisis", G. Suryamurthy, a key leader of the Federation of JACTTEO-GEO and COTA-GEO, told the media here. Though the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, was yet to grant an audience to the union leaders pleading for reinstatement of the staff, Mr. Suryamurthy, who has launched the peace imitative, said the Government was now convinced that "our strike is not politically motivated".

The unions' decision not to file a petition in the Supreme Court against the mass dismissals and not to support Opposition protests, "convinced the Government that we are not for confrontation".

Besides, Mr.Suryamurthy said, he had sent a personal letter to the Chief Minister expressing regret for the "objectionable speeches", reportedly made by Secretariat Staff Association functionaries on July 1, and explaining that such "remarks" were made not out of any "political motive" but owing to "overenthusiasam".

He was "very hopeful" that the Chief Minister would "sympathetically view our plight" and order withdrawal of the dismissal orders and the criminal cases.

But the piles of appeals filed by the employees against their dismissals continued to gather dust in various offices, as there was no official word yet whether to accept or reject the written pleas. However, official sources indicate that a decision would be taken in a day or two.

As per the newly-promulgated ordinance amending the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act, "appointing authorities", who include officials right from the tahsildar to the Chief Secretary, can dispose of the appeals.

But, as the dismissed staff have come up with various reasons for their "absence" during the strike period, they would rather wait for a clear directive from the Government. A majority of the staff, in their appeals, have claimed either they or their kin were "sick" on July 2 and 3, while some have attributed their absence to "personal engagement" or "threats from unions". Those who were arrested said, "we were in jail and hence, could not attend work".

Official sources say the Government could either take back the dismissed staff in toto with a pre-condition that they would not plunge into any strike in future or reinstate only as many as it requires to keep the official machinery going. For this, the Government would make use of the report by A.M. Swaminathan Commission, which has identified the surplus staff in each department. And, in such a flab-shedding exercise, the "passive participants" in the strike may be taken back, but the "active strikers" may not be spared.

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