Thursday, June 30, 2011

Attention of All Divisional/Branch Secretaries


Please take a copy of the following and hand it over to all the public personalities, people representatives and Trade Union Centers Seeking their support for the ensuing strike.

Please ensure immediate Action

DRAFT LETTER

No. JCA/Postal/2011 Dated: 28.06.2011

To,

___________________

____________________

____________________

Sir,

Sub: - Indefinite Postal Strike from 05th July-2011.

The Postal Services in India is the biggest in the world, with a tradition of serving the people of this country for the last 150 years. There are about 1,55,000 Post Offices , 392 Railway Mail Service Sorting Offices. Collection, Processing, Conveyance and delivery of Postal articles including Speed Post , Registered Post, Parcels, Periodicals, Ordinary letters etc. is the main function of the Postal Department. In addition to this the INDIA POST is running the largest Bank called Post offices Savings Bank and also Postal Life Insurance including Rural Postal Life Insurance, as the agency functions of the Finance Ministry, Govt. of India. There are about 5,50,000 employees working in the Postal Department out of which 3,00000 are Gramin Dak Sevaks mostly in the rural Post Offices.

The Postal Joint Council of Action comprising National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE) , Federation of National Postal Organizations (FNPO), All India Postal Extra Departmental Employees Union (AIPEDEU) and National Union of Gramin Dak Sevaks(NUGDS)' representing 95% of the employees, has decided to go on Indefinite All India Strike from 5th July 2011. The Bhartiya Postal Employees Federation (BPEF) affiliated to BMS has also given separate notice for indefinite strike from 6th July, 2011. The memorandum regarding the decision for indefinite strike was given to the Secretary, Department of Posts, on 20th April, 2011 itself and the formal Strike Notice was served on 14.06.2011.Three rounds of discussions with Secretary, Department of Posts, took place on 06.06.2011, 07.06.2011 and 27.06.2011, but failed due to the adamant position taken by the Postal authorities.

The Postal Board has appointed the Chicago-based multi-national Consultancy called Mckinsey for optimizing the mail network of INDIA POST. The Department has now started implementing the Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP) recommended by the Mckinsey. As a first step speed Post hubs are introduced. As per this scheme the existing 315 National Speed Post Centres (NSPC) has been reduced to 89 speed post hubs. Speed post articles booked for delivery in the same district or nearby districts are unnecessarily

Dispatched to hubs situated hundreds of miles away for processing. From there articles are again back-routed to the delivery post offices. This has resulted in heavy delay in transmission and delivery of speed post articles. Articles which are delivered on the next day earlier are now delayed for 2 to 5 days. Time bound and speedy delivery could not be ensured and this has resulted in erosion of the customer faith in the Postal services which in turn has resulted downfall in the number of speed post articles booked and also in the revenue realized through speed post.

In-spite of the failure of the Speed Post hub experiment, the department is not ready to revert back to the old system. Instead the Postal Board now proposes to introduce hub system for first class mails including registered articles and also for delivery. The existing 366 mail sorting offices are to be closed and 89 first class mail hubs are to be introduced, just like speed post articles first class mails including registered articles of 5 or 6 revenue districts are to be pooled in hubs situated hundreds of miles away and from there they are processed and back-routed for delivery. Similarly the delivery of letters in urban areas at present done from town sub post offices are to be withdrawn and it will be concentrated in delivery hubs. The department also issued instruction to all Chief Postmaster Generals for closure and merger of 9797 urban post offices in the name of optimization. The introduction of first class mail hubs, delivery hubs and closure of offices will further aggravate the delay in transmission and delivery of postal articles and curtailment of postal facilities to the public. Naturally public will loos their faith in the postal services and will be compelled to depend upon courier services.

The JCA has demanded the Postal Board to roll back the speed post hubs and also to reject the proposal to introduce first class mail hubs and delivery hubs and stop closure of offices. But the Postal Board has taken an adamant stand and is unilaterally going ahead with the implementation of Mckinsey recommendations.

The JCA has also demanded the Postal Board to concede the legitimate sectional demands of the Gramin Dak Sevaks, Casual Labourers and other cadres of the Postal department such as Postal Assistants, Sorting Assistants, Postmen, Mail guard, Multi-tasking Staff, System Administrators, PO & RMS Accountants, Postal Accounts Employees, Administrative Staff, SBCO Staff, MMS and Civil Wing employees. The 25 point Charter of demands submitted to the Secretary, Department of Posts, is enclosed herewith

As employees of all the Federations and Unions irrespective of their union affiliations are participating in the strike, the entire postal services will be paralyzed from 5thJuly, 2011.

We earnestly solicit your support for the justified demands of the Postal employees and intervention at Government level for settlement of the demands raised in the Charter of Demands.

Yours Sincerely

GUJARAT CIRCLE FULLY PREPARED TO EMBARK UPON INDEFINATE STRIKE FROM 5TH JULY 2011

Com.Rashmin Purohit CS, Shri.RNParmar CS Gr C NAPE, Com.RSMalek CS AIPEU PIV, Shri.AKSolanki AGS NAPE P.IV and Com.MGDulera Finance Secetary AIPEU Gr.C are on tour of various divisions. Today we visited Valsad, Valsad IE, Vapi etc Post Offices, held staff meetings and received quite encouraging response from each and every corner. In the late evening we came to Bharuch and set with leaders of NFPE and FNPO. Tommorrow we will conduct a meeting in the morning at Bharuch and Bardoli and proceed to Godhra, Anand and Kheda. Divisional leaders in Rajkot, Bhuj, Porbandar are also visiting offices in their divisions. Mahesana division is also now on the right track and holding JCA meeting on the sunday. We can not reach at all spots. We wish all the best in divisions. We request staff of Circle Office and Regional Offices to kindly be prepared to proceed on strike wef 5th July. We are also holding a very big meeting of staff at Ahmedabad GPO Compound on 2nd July saturday at 6 pm. All members at Ahmedabad and nearby offices and staff of CO and other administrative offices are requested to attend the meeting.

Today's discussions with the government have failed and No settlement could be reached on the first item of the Charter of demands i.e; implemental of Speed Post hubs, 1st Class Mails hubs and delivery hubs. The staff side demanded the Secretary, Department of Posts, to have full fledged discussion on all items of the charter of demands including the first item.

Dear comrades, we all in Gujarat circle are fully prepared for strike action. Inspite of my desire, we can not visit all divisions. You all are very well educated members and understand need of the time. You are real heros of this struggle. Please take all necessary steps to make the strike action a grand success.

NO SETTLEMENT

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

ALL INDIA POSTAL EXTRA DEPARTMENTAL EMPLOYEES

NATIONAL UNION OF GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS

NEW DELHI – 110001


Today (30.06.2011) Secretary, Department of Posts, held another round of discussion with Central JCA Leaders. The Secretary level discussion was restricted to the Mail Network Optimization Project (MNOP) and lasted for one hour only. No settlement could be reached on the first item of the Charter of demands i.e; implemental of Speed Post hubs, 1st Class Mails hubs and delivery hubs. The staff side demanded the Secretary, Department of Posts, to have full fledged discussion on all items of the charter of demands including the first item.

Yesterday (29.06.2011) there was a discussion with Member (Operations) on the same subject. No consensus could be reached in that meeting also. The Central JCA decided unanimously to intensify the strike preparations and ensure 100% participation of the employees in the indefinite strike. The entire Postal and RMS offices shall remain closed from 5th July 2011.

The Central JCA call further calls upon on all Circle/Divisional/Branch Secretaries to organize protest demonstration in front of all offices on all days from 1st July 2011.