Left-backed Kerala government staff to strike work Aug 21

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16 (IANS) The Left-backed state government employees have called for a day-long strike Aug 21 after Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy refused to go back on his decision of introducing contributory pension scheme for the new recruits.

Chandy had called a meeting of the representatives of all the state government employees Thursday, during which he said that the statutory pension scheme would be replaced with the new scheme.

The Left-backed unions walked out of the meeting.

Employees' unions backed by the Congress-led United Democratic Front organisations decided against the strike.

After the implementation of the new scheme, all those joining government service from April next year would be covered under the new pension scheme, while all existing employees will continue to benefit from the erstwhile statutory pension, which is currently in force.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-backed employees have also decided to strike work.

Chandy said that the decision to implement the contributory pension scheme on the pattern of the central government would take care of the interests of current pensioners and also of the new state government employees.

"Kerala's situation is unique and warrants the new pension scheme. It is one of the few states in India where the number of government servants (5.34 lakh) is less than the pensioners (5.5 lakh). Nearly 20,000 retire annually from service," Chandy said.

"In the last 11 years, the pension accountability of the state has increased from Rs.1,838 crore to Rs.8,178 crore," he added.

Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura are the only states that are yet to implement the contributory pension scheme.