Indefinite Postal Strike from 05th July-2011.

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
ALL INDIA POSTAL EXTRA DEPARTMENTAL EMPLOYEES UNION
NATIONAL UNION OF GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS
NEW DELHI – 110001

No. JCA/Postal/2011 Dated : 28.06.2011

To,
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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 February 2011 it self 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 hundred 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 loose 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 5th July, 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

M. Krishnan
Secretary General, NFPE D.

Theagarajan
Secretary General, FNPO

S. S. Mahadevaiah
General Secretary
AIPEDEU

P.U.Muralidharan
General Secretary
GDS – NUPE