History

During the last part of the 19th Century, railwaymen were inspired by the ongoing freedom struggle. There were several strikes in the railway workshops during that period and in the early part of the 20th Century. After the formation of All India Trade Union Congress, the trade union leaders who were spearheading the freedom struggle and were active in the railway trade union movement, in 1924, formed the All India Railwaymen's Federation(AIRF), consisting of the railwaymen’s unions working on the different railways. Many of them were jailed and dismissed from service. In the early stages, the meetings of AIRF were organised on the sideline of the meetings of the All India Trade Union Congress. The Railways being a strategic industry, it was very important for the freedom struggle to involve the railwaymen in the agitation against British imperialism. The AIRF took steps to unify the railwaymen’s union by merger of small unions into one union on each railway. The British Government also started negotiations with the Federation from 1928 and half yearly meetings were held between the AIRF and the Railway Board, headed by the Chief Commissioner of the Railways. During these negotiations several achievements to improve the service conditions of the railwaymen were reached. The AIRF was bitterly opposed to racial discrimination. It opposed higher scales of pay being given to the Europeans and the Anglo Indians for doing the same work as the Indians. The AIRF also put pressure for the training of the Indian Railway workers. Untill 1947, the AIRF was able to unify the entire railway trade union movement into one union on each railway and one Federation for the whole of the Indian Railways. It was after 1947 that the ruling party floated its own Central Trade Union and also a Federation in the Railways. The first General Strike in the Railways in the post-independent era took place in July, 1960 against the unfavourable recommendations of the II CPC. Though the strike lasted for five days, yet it shook the Government of India who had issued an ordinance and declared the strike illegal. The ordinance provided six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs.500/- for those who joined the strike and one year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000/- for those who instigated the railway workers for strike. In this strike 5 persons were killed, 1,60,000 employees were placed under arrest, 50,000 employees were suspended and thousands of employees were removed/dismissed from service. Notwithstanding these hard measures to break the strike, the strike that took place proved to be a landmark in the history of free India. This forced the Government of India to negotiate with the Trade Unions of the Central Government employees and to provide an effective forum for the settlement of their legitimate demands. This machinery was established in the year 1967 after protracted negotiations with the unions of the Central Government employees, including the railwaymen. The machinery is called Joint Consultative Machinery(JCM) for the Central Government employees. Another strike of the Central Government employees and the railwaymen took place on 19th September, 1968 against the Government’s refusal to refer the demands of the Central Government employees for arbitration as provided for in the JCM Scheme. In this strike 48,000 Central Government employees were served with notices of termination of service, 4,000 railway employees were summarily discharged, 7,000 placed under suspension and 8,000 faced trial in different courts of law. 9 persons died in police firing. Most of them were railwaymen. Against this massive victimisation, the leaders of the Central Government employees, including the  General Secretary of the AIRF, went on an indefinite fast in front of the Parliament in New Delhi. The Government of India was forced to withdraw the discharge notices and consequently all the discharged employees were reinstated in service. Again in May, 1974, the railwaymen were forced to go on strike which lasted for three weeks. During this strike 50,000 railway workers were arrested, over 10,300 railwaymen were dismissed from service, service of over 5,600 temporary employees were terminated and 4 employees lost their lives. This was a historic strike which attracted worldwide attention. This strike was also a contributory factor in the landslide defeat of the Congress Party, which was responsible for forcing the workers to go on strike. It is, however, a matter of satisfaction that all victimised railway workers were reinstated in service either by the court’s orders or by the announcement made by the Railway Minister of the Janata Government in the year 1977. In the year 1978, the AIRF took a strike ballot for an indefinite General Strike in the railways on the government’s refusal to concede the railwaymens’ demand for payment of bonus. The strike was averted because of the settlement of the demand and Government agreeing to pay Productivity Linked Bonus(PLB) to railwaymen. The PLB which started with 15 days ad-hoc payment has increased to 75 days wages for the year 2009-10. In the year 1997, on receipt of the report of the V CPC, the AIRF along with other unions of the Central Government employees organised a strike. The response was massive. The strike was averted following negotiations between the JCM leaders and the Group of Ministers, as the result of which an agreement was signed on 11.9.1997 which granted 20% additional wage hike over that recommended by the V CPC along with an agreement for resolving the anomalies arising out of it. There has been the policy of having continuous dialogue between the organised labour and the Railway Administration at various levels which greatly helped in maintaining prolonged industrial peace on the Railways. While through these negotiations, legitimate demands of the railwaymen could be settled, the Railway Administration also got an opportunity to use a good industrial climate for the efficient functioning of the Railway System in the service of rail users. The AIRF is a free, democratic and independent organisation. Out of 1.5 million railway workers, 1.1 million are members of the AIRF. It has affiliated unions on all the 16 Zonal Railways and Production Units and the MTP Railway. As opposed to the popular belief that trade union’s sole aim is to organise strikes, demonstrations, dharnas, AIRF and its affiliates have been doing social service through several non-bargaining activities like health check and blood and eye donation camps, sports activities and prize distribution for the children of railway employees, organising drug and alcohol de-addiction, AIDS awareness and family planning camps and providing relief to the victims of natural calamities etc., taking regular coaching classes for children of railway employees and also running computer classes and educational institutions including an Engineering College. The AIRF is concerned about safety on Indian Railways and has been organising seminars and meetings, educating the cadre on safety in railway working. In November last AIRF held the Maha Safety Samvad at Allahabad which was attended by more than 12,000 railway workers, the leadership of AIRF and its affiliated unions, the Railway Minister, Minister of State for Railways, Chairman, Railway Board and other members of the Railway Board. This received highest appreciation everywhere. Notwithstanding all the good work being done by it, the AIRF and its affiliated unions are involved in a bitter struggle and are facing Governments’ offensive on various issues. Railways’ regular activities are being outsourced to corporations or contractors and workers’ unity is being disrupted by granting recognition to non-representative unions. Benchmarking is being pursued without creating the requisite working conditions and providing the required tools, clamps and spare parts on a uniform basis all over the Indian Railways, downsizing of the working strength is being carried out indiscriminately, a contributory pension scheme is being introduced, doing away with the beneficial old scheme and labour laws are being amended to the detriment of workers to placate foreign investors at the behest of IMF and WTO. Since the Indian Railways are the Nation’s greatest asset and second line of the defence of the country, the AIRF and its affiliated unions are determined to continue its constructive activities and at the same time take all possible steps against Railways’ being privatised as also their unity being tempered with.

 

STRIKE AND THE PAY COMMISSION

On January, 2005, India’s present Finance Minister, the Hon’ble P. Chidambaram had, in reply to the letter of Shri Vijayaraghavan, MP, written that the government employees had been getting cent per cent Dearness Allowance, Dearness Allowance equivalent of 50% of basic pay was merged in their basic pay and the system of ACP was there for their promotion. Accordingly, there was no justification for appointment of the Sixth Pay Commission for restructuring their pay scales. From this it was clear that the present UPA government was determined to follow the policy of wage freeze and allowing the pay scales of government servants to remain stagnated at the present level. This was a great challenge for the government servants. The General Secretary, AIRF, who is also the Convener of the Joint Consultative Machinery (National Council), on 12.12.2004, called a meeting of the senior leaders of Central Government employees, wherein it was decided to hold the National Convention of the organizations of Central Government employees in Delhi. This convention was most encouraging. A 20-point Charter of Demands was adopted and it was decided to campaign and mobilize the workers for its achievement. The Steering Committee was converted into a Joint Action Committee. All government employees were called upon to stage dharnas, demonstrations, rallies etc. throughout the country. The government employees accordingly decided to confront the government all over the country; but this had no effect on the government who turned a deaf ear to it. Left with no alternative, the Joint Action Committee gave a clarion call to all government employees to resort to countrywide strike. Decision for the strike had to be taken by a secret ballot. 97% employees voted in favour of the strike, but even then the government kept mum. Therefore, in the meeting convened on 25th January, 2006, the Joint Action Committee decided that on 7th February, 2006, all the unions of Central Government employees should give notices to their respective administrations for going on strike from 1.3.2006. On 7th February, 2006, the Central Government employees all over the country served the strike notice to the concerned authorities, which aroused the government from its slumber. As a result, the government arranged several meetings with the representatives of the Joint Action Committee and put before them the proposal to defer the strike, but the Joint Action Committee warned the government that unless it gave an assurance to accept its demands, the decision to go on strike could not be deferred. At last India’s Prime Minister, who decided to intervene in the dispute, in an important press conference, said that there was need for setting up the Sixth Pay Commission for revising the pay scales of the Central Government employees. Not withstanding this, the government did not hold any talks on this. Therefore, it had become unavoidable to serve the strike notice. In the meeting of JCM Standing Committee held on 15th February, 2006, the government gave an assurance for setting up the Sixth Pay Commission. Discussion on the remaining demands with the government also continued. The government assured that all the problems would be solved. Welcoming the decision of the government, the Joint Action Committee, deferred the strike. On 16th February, 2006, the Prime Minister, through the Presidential address, apprised both the Houses of Parliament of the decision to set up the Sixth Pay Commission. Even then there has been a lot of delay in its setting up. As has been told earlier, the Indian Finance Minister has all along been opposed to the setting up of the Sixth Pay Commission, when the responsibility for its setting up rested with the Finance Ministry only. The announcement of the appointment of the Sixth Pay Commission has been made by the government on 1st September, 2006, six months after the assurance was given about it. The Chairman of the Commission is Justice(retired) Shri B.N. Srikrishna. The other members are – Prof. R.H. Dholakia, of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, J.S. Mathur, formerly Member Secretary, Expenditure Reforms Commission and Ms Sushma Nath, Addl. Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education in the Ministry of Agriculture. After the formation of the Sixth Pay Commission, it is hoped there will be discussion on Interim Relief. Since the government of its own did not take initiative on this but on the other hand said that as the government employees are paid full Dearness Allowance now, the Pay Commission itself should make recommendation in this regard. In this entire campaign, AIRF and its affiliates were in the forefront with others and exhibited strong solidarity in unifying the Central Government employees. AIRF congratulates the leaders and the cadres of all concerned unions for the grand success. It was considered necessary to conclude this agreement with the government for, had the employees been compelled to go on strike, the 15,000 trains(both goods and passenger) scouring every nook and corner of the country would have been impeded resulting in colossal loss to the Indian Railways and the country. It is another matter that India’s Finance Minister has taken more than six months to implement a good decision on account of which the political gain which the UPA government would have obtained for avoiding the crisis and arriving at a decision was missed. But India’s Finance Minister does not understand that it is not in the interest of the government and the country to act against its labour force. It is pertinent to mention here that no Pay Commission up till now was constituted without the government employees’ strike decision. The First Pay Commission(1946-47) was constituted only after the railway strike decision of 1946, which recommended payment of Pension to railway employees and also put forth the proposal of paying a living wage. The Second Pay Commission(1957-59) was anti-labour which had resulted in the July 1960 indefinite strike of the Central Government employees. The government tried to break the strike on a war footing in which Com. Ranjit Singh, Sakharam, Sitaram, Kripa Shanker and Khaderan alias Giridhar became martyrs on account of firing by the police. AIRF remembers these martyrs in its Annual Conventions every year and pays homage to them. It was only after this strike in 1966, the Joint Consultative Machinery was constituted, as a result of which the pension of government employees was raised from 33% to 50%, the avenues of promotion of government employees opened and the government also agreed to pay them bonus. Initially, the Joint Consultative Machinery worked very well and benefited the government employees by improving their service conditions but now it has got rusted. It works only when it is pushed forward. On 19th September, 1968, the railwaymen went on a day’s strike since the government clearly refused to agree for arbitration. After the strike was called off, the 48,000 railway employees who had been removed from service were reinstated. In this strike, Com. Paresh Sanyal(N.F. Railway), Raman Acharjee(N.F. Railway), Kishan Gopal(Northern Railway), Lachman Shah (Northern Railway), Raj Bahadur(Northern Railway), Deb Raj(Northern Railway), Gurdeep Singh(Northern Railway), Gama(Northern Railway) and Arjun Singh(Northern Railway) became martyrs. Consequent on four leaders of JCM – Com. J.P. Chaubey(AIRF), O.P. Gupta(NFPT), K.G. Srivastava(AIDEF) and S. Madhusudan(CCG&W) sitting on indefinite strike, the Central Government employees became agitated and they staged a massive demonstration on the office of the then Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi. Consequently all the employees who had been removed were taken back in service. The report of the Third Pay Commission(1970-73) was not favourable to the Central Government employees. The Historic Strike of 1974 following in its wake was the result of the injustice perpetrated by the government. The government tried to break this strike also on a war footing. Thousands of railway employees were imprisoned and removed from service. AIRF faced this situation also quite successfully and all those who had been removed from service were taken back with due promotions. They retired with pension. In this Historic Strike, Com. V.R. Malgi(Central Railway), Shripal Dwivedi (Northern Railway), Bhanwaria(Western Railway) and S. Ramaswami(Southern Railway) became martyrs. The Fourth Pay Commission(1983-86) was constituted after the decision to go on strike had been taken in AIRF’s Vijayawada Convention. The setting up of the Fifth Pay Commission(1994-97) was also ordered in 1993 only after the Central Government employees had taken a decision to go on strike. The report of the Pay Commission created dissatisfaction among the employees. Following the strike decision, agreement was arrived at in a meeting with the Group of Ministers and the government announced an increase of 40% in the salary of the Central Government employees. As a result, the strike decision was withdrawn. All government employees, including railway employees got the benefit from this. This agreement was unique. All the same, many issues arising out of the agreement have not yet been implemented. The government is indifferent to them even now. One thing becomes clear from all this that the Railway and the Central Government employees carried on the struggle jointly. As and when the government overlooked them and did not accede to their demands, there was strike and the workers made sacrifices. As and when the government got ready to negotiate, AIRF also arrived at an agreement with it. AIRF’s history has always been glorious and full of struggle. It cannot be narrated in a nutshell.