State government, Jacto-Geo negotiations are deadlocked, token protests will be held on Tuesday

After hours of negotiations, the government failed to provide a clear solution for employees, and employees will hold a token protest at all regional headquarters on Tuesday.

Government employees in Tamil Nadu will hold token protests at all district headquarters on Tuesday after the State government failed to offer a conclusive solution to their demands during ongoing negotiations on Monday.

The employees called off the planned statewide ‘bandh’ after a Madras High Court order directed them not to resort to any protest until the next hearing of the case.

The employees have been demanding the fulfilment of their 10-point charter of demands.

Hours after the four-member ministerial committee of the government expressed their views on the vexed issue, a delegation of Jacto-Geo and other officers’ unions held direct negotiation with Chief Minister MK Stalin at the state secretariat.

The meeting with the CM, which lasted 45 minutes, was followed by another round of discussions between the ministerial committee and the Jacto-Geo members who insisted that the issue of reviving the old pension scheme was non-negotiable and they would not settle for the unified pension scheme.

Emerging out of the meeting with the CM and the ministerial committee, Srinivasan, coordinator of JACTO-GEO at the state Secretariat, said, “The state government requested us to defer the protest by four weeks. We will go ahead with the protest on Tuesday. Government employees will avail cash or leave and protest as planned. We will get together after Tuesday’s protest and decide our next course of action in a week.”

Earlier in the day, Madurai bench of Madras High Court directed the Jacto-Geo not to organise protests scheduled by the organisation across Tamil Nadu on February 25.

The HC order came as a huge breather and a saving grace for the government, which was issued an ultimatum by the employees to oblige before Monday night or face their protests.

While uncertainty reigned over the resolution offered by the government, particularly CM Stalin, DT Next reliably learnt that the unions were unimpressed with the suggestion of the ministerial committee earlier in the day and that they would consult the CM and revert.

“We have been assured time and again by the same set of ministers, even the chief minister, that they would consider our requests favourably. But all that the ministerial committee had to offer at Monday’s negotiation was that they would consult the chief minister and revert,” said a senior member of the Jacto-Geo negotiation team on condition of anonymity.

“It is a question of either accepting our demand(s), mainly the revival of the old pension scheme and earn leave surrender or not. How long will they keep holding such marathon negotiations? Our members are ridiculing us for our inability to break the deadlock or even get a meaningful reply from the government for four years.”

The joint action council of teachers/employees organisations was firm until Monday evening to go on the offensive if the government continued to dodge them beyond Monday night. Understandably, the State government was making last ditch efforts to get the employees to yield and prevent a show of dissent.

B. Ramkumar Adityan, Tiruchendur, in a public interest litigation petition stated that during road demonstration, the common public, students of schools and colleges, emergency vehicles including ambulances, employees of central and state governments, private sector, organised and unorganised sectors will get affected. As far as the unorganised sector is concerned, blocking of road and rail prevents people from earning their wages for the day. Thus, every employee in the unorganised sector is forced to give up their earnings whether they support the strike or not and others are not able to reach their office in time. Therefore, the state government should not allow road demonstrations on Tuesday (February 25) and any subsequent dates in future.

The stand taken by the Jacto-Geo is against provisions of the Rule 12, 20, 22 and 22 A of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants Conduct Rules 1973.

Citing these, the petitioner sought the bench to grant an order of interim injunction restraining the Jacto-Geo members and its agents from organising a statewide strike.

A division bench comprising Justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy asked why don’t the Jacto-Geo members organise a token strike on their office premises without causing inconvenience to the public