Brunt Bearers (December 17)

The JAC of the Government employees has finally seen reason and decided to call off the 55 daylong cease work strike. The decision to end the strike followed a six-point agreement signed between the JAC and the Government. 

The agreement includes restoration of house rent and traveling allowance with effect from April 1, full medical reimbursement in certain cases on the advice of the State Medical Board from January 1 and release of pending wages of work charge and muster roll employees. The agreement was signed on the line of the deal made between the Government and bodies of some other employees a few days ago.

Interestingly leaders of JAC came down heavily on the employees' bodies for calling off the strike. The JAC had even called them traitors and charged that the interest of all the Government employees had been sold off. Despite thee agreement it is not a success of the JAC, the winner is the Government, which had all along been saying that it had no means to fulfill the demands of the JAC even if what they were demanding was fully justified. 

The employees had refused to budge their stance saying their rights had been denied. The Government's plea that it will be able to restore both house rent and traveling allowance with effect from April 1 had been repeatedly rejected by the striking JAC. But now it has finally accepted the offer made by the Government many days back. 

It may not be wrong to say that the strikes were cowed down by the threat that the principle of dies non would be applied if the employees had failed to resume their duties. The JAC is now getting what the Government has always been offering all along during the previous rounds of talks. Even the Government's plea of helplessness fell on deaf ears.

One wonders what made the JAC change its mind? The JAC general secretary Th. Inaocha is quoted to have said that " They (the employees) called off the strike not because their demands have been met but because of the acute financial condition" of the State. If that is the reason it may not be wrong to assume that leaders of the JAC have finally realized for the first time that the State is facing a bad fiscal situation. 

Had it known this fact earlier the cease work would be called off several weeks back. It is needless to mention that both the Government and the striking employees had completely forgotten the masses, which are the real boss. Now that the cease work strike has been called off, both the leaders of JAC and the administration needs some retrospection. The administration was crippled during the cease work strike, which continued nearly two months. 

The Government's threat of dies non, as we have found out, sounded hollow. The employees will not be victimized and salaries would be paid once the RBI ban is lifted. In the ultimate analysis it is the masses, which are the losers. In the war of nerves between the JAC and the Government the public was made to suffer.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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