JACTO-GEO holds protest across Tamil Nadu pressing long-pending demands

CHENNAI: Ahead of the upcoming assembly election, and to ensure the poll promises of the sitting DMK government are fulfilled before the elections, members of the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisation (JACTO-GEO) held state-wide protests across Tamil Nadu.

Across the state, over 1 lakh teachers and government staff protested from their respective district headquarters on Tuesday, primarily urging the TN government to revise the old pension scheme, among other long-pending demands.

Speaking to DT Next, S Gunasekaran, state coordinator, JACTO-GEO, said, “The protest on Tuesday was a follow-up of the one held last month. We’re determined to remind the government of the assurance they made to fulfil our demands. The organisation has planned for a high-level coordinators meeting in Chennai on November 21, following which we will decide on further moves.”

Another JACTO-GEO member pointed out that though the government last time sought time and promised to fulfil demands, there has so far been no update on it.

Some of the demands are revival of old pension schemes thereby revoking the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), doing away with outsourcing employees for government departments through private agencies, reintroducing leave encashment and disbursement of dearness allowance without delay.

It’s noteworthy that in May, the Department of School Education directed to drop all cases against JACTO-GEO members who took part in the protests in the previous years. The secretary of the department directed that the cases be dropped against government employees, government teachers and staff who were charged with disciplinary proceedings and criminal cases on account of such strikes in the past.