Railways set for all-round job cut, union protests

Kolkata: The Railways have recently sent a directive to various divisions of the Eastern Railway for curtailment of 15 percent of its staff strength. According to the labour union of the Eastern Railway — Eastern Railway Men's Union (ERMU), the retrenchment of staff will be effected both in safety as well as non-safety segments.

"The Centre has planned to merge 182 categories in the Railways into 30 in the name of multi-skilling. The total retrenchment planned this year is 1,875 posts in the safety category (mechanical, electrical, accounts etc) and 4,200 in the non-safety category like operations and maintenance. The total count will be to the extent of 6000," said Amit Ghosh, general secretary of ERMU.

The ERMU has already launched a movement to protest against the move of retrenchment. "We are creating awareness through social media on how the Railways has planned for massive job cuts as it is progressing towards privatisation. They have first targeted those people who have attained 55 years of age or those who have done service for 30 years," added Ghosh.

According to an official of the Eastern Railway, review of posts is undertaken every year and the redundant posts out of the vacant ones get surrendered so that new posts can be created out of the same money value.

"With technological advancement, some posts get redundant while some new posts get created. The review is done in all divisions and sectors of Eastern Railway. This is a routine matter that takes place every year. The review of vacant posts or those going to be vacant is undertaken regularly," the official claimed.

He claimed that the matter is only surrendering of posts. "Subsequently its money value will be assessed for creation of new posts by the end of this financial year," he added.