EDITORIAL - POSTAL CRUSADER, JULY
2013
Postal employees have always
taken it as their motto to render best possible services to the people at
large. We are conscious of our duties and responsibilities to the Nation.
Inpsite of all limitations, we shall continue to discharge our duties towards the
people and the Nation. But on the same breath, we want to make it clear that
contended staff are always an asset to the Nation and discontentment if allowed
to grow, it is bound to affect the services. We do claim that further
improvement in the services can be brought out if joint endeavours are made by
both Administration and unions. While we have successfully built up a strong
movement through our united efforts, we do claim to maintain cordial relations
with the administration at different levels – branch/Divisional/Circle and All
India.
But our experience hitherto shows
that maintaining cordial relation with administration alone will not solve the
basic problems faced by the Postal employees. Most of the issues agitating the
minds of the Postal employees are due to the overall policy of the Government.
Proposed move to permit entry of private sector into Postal services by
granting licences to the transnational courier companies, Denial of legitimate
rights of the Gramin Dak Sevaks including Civil Servant status and
bonus-parity, Non-payment of revised wages to the casual labourers, unjustified
abolition of vacant Posts, Refusal to appoint Seventh Pay Commission and
Inclusion of GDS under its purview, merger of 50% DA, inhuman 5% restriction on
compassionate appointments, introduction of share-market oriented contributory
Pension Scheme, non-removal of bonus ceiling, downsizing, outsourcing,
contractualisation, corporatization etc are all directly linked with the
polices of the Government. Inspite of our sincere cooperation, if things are
not moving in the proper direction, we have to be ready for a serious course of
action. We can never allow the situation to continue like this which is bound
to cause deterioration in services and also adversely affect the interest of
the employees. We should analyse and understand the root cause of the problems
and shall find out remedy.
The logic of the neo-liberal
reforms is maximization of profit and minimization of cost of labour as well as
people. Being a capitalist agenda, it operates in that direction in a
spontaneous manner. It maximizes profit by keeping the wages suppressed and
also by generating a huge army of unemployed as reserve, to facilitate such
suppression of wages. Under neo-liberal order it promotes speculation to
multiply profit, thereby further aggravating unemployment, price rise and
poverty. When it falls into crisis, as have happened at the present juncture,
it seeks to shift the entire burden of the crisis to the people and workers. That
is why our genuine demands are denied. Hence the fight against the
galobalisation policies assumes paramount importance. We have to change this
policy and we should continue our fight for an alternative policy.
Alternative to the imperialist
globalization policy is nothing else but socialism, complete emancipation of
society from all exploitation. Change in the system, or transition of the
society, does not happen automatically. The working class, including the Postal
employees, has to play a pro-active role in intensifying the struggle and
prepare itself to lead the struggle for change in the system. It has to sharpen
the struggle further, unifying the entire working class against the neo-liberal
policies and rally the people around it to achieve the change. When struggle
intensifies, at some point of time they may concede some of our demands. But
that is not the end. We should continue our struggle further, till these
policies are reversed completely and an alternative system comes into
existence. For this we should elevate the consciousness of the workers and
heighten the quality of the struggle further. Let us have a clear understanding
that the fight against the policy is nothing but fighting for an alternative in
the long run, an alternative society which bring an end to the exploitation of
one human being by another. Therefore our present day activities must continue
to target the present exploitative system, expose its anti-people, anti-working
class character.
