Chennai, Dec 23: Government employees and teachers in Tamil Nadu have announced an indefinite statewide strike from January 6, after talks with senior state ministers and officials failed to resolve their long-pending demands, union representatives said on Monday.
The decision was taken by the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations and Government Employees’ Organisations (JACTO-GEO) following a meeting with a ministerial team at the Chennai State Secretariat. The delegation included Public Works Minister E.V. Velu, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi. However, the discussions ended without any breakthrough.
The unions said their key demands — including the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), filling of vacant government posts, rectification of pay and seniority anomalies, and the resolution of other employee welfare issues — were not adequately addressed during the talks.
“The talks ended without any agreement,” JACTO-GEO representatives said, expressing disappointment over the outcome of the meeting. “Our long-standing demands were not satisfactorily addressed by the government,” they added.
Earlier this year, government employees and teachers had staged token strikes and hunger strikes at district headquarters to press for their demands. As part of the next phase of agitation, the unions said district-level meetings and demonstrations would be held later this month.
Reaffirming their stance, the unions said they would proceed with the planned agitation. “We are left with no option but to go ahead with the indefinite statewide strike from January 6,” union leaders said, adding that protests would be intensified at the district level if the demands remained unmet.
