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Post-offices shut as employees
begin strike: Reuters

Some 600,000 Indian postal workers launched an indefinite strike Tuesday, shutting post-offices throughout the country, union leaders said.

"Since midnight, sorting of mail by the Railway Mail Service has stopped. Offices have been closed so that customers cannot enter," M K Khamborkar, general secretary of the Bharatiya Postal Employees Union, told Reuters.

The unions are seeking higher wages as well as full benefits and pension for 300,000 members employed part-time. The unions also want many posts filled.

"Strike participation is 100 per cent in most centres," said Ratneswara Rao, general secretary of the National Union of Extra Departmental Agents which provides postal services in rural areas.

The government made a last-ditch effort on Monday to head off the strike, saying that many unions' demands were "receiving attention in a positive light".

The communications ministry said a group of ministers was looking at the unions' demands.

But Rao said the government's request for withdrawal of the strike did not come with any counter proposals.

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