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Postal strike continues; no sign of breakthrough

"We have decided to hold meetings in various offices to intensify our fight further. The Joint Council of Action is meeting later in the day to counter the government's threat of deploying the army to run the services," R L Bhattacharya, secretary general of the National Federation of Postal Employees, said.

Bhattacharya said there was no possibility of the strike ending unless all demands of the unions were met.

"There is total unanimity among the unions and we will fight jointly to press our demands " Bhattacharya said when asked if there were differences among the unions on the question of calling off the strike.

Reacting to Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's statement that government might consider seeking the army's help to run the services if the situation so warranted, Bhattacharya said, "This shows that government is not serious about our genuine demands."

The three federations which have called the strike - National Federation of Postal Employees, Federation of National Postal Organisations and Bhartiya Postal Employees Federation - had submitted a memorandum to the prime minister on Thursday seeking his intervention to facilitate a negotiated settlement.

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