Drop stir plan, Chief Minister appeals to staff

Reacting to the meeting, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami appealed to the forum to drop their stir considering the havoc it might wreak on the public.

The statement follows a high-level meeting of the JACTTO-GEO coordinators declaring that they would go ahead with the indefinite strike from September 7 onwards if the state failed to concede their demands. 

The Chief Minister observed that the constituent associations of the forum came up with four primary demands – implementation of old pension scheme, wage revision as per 7th Pay Commission, provision of interim relief in case of delay in wage revision, and normalisation of time-scale pay from special time-scale pay. He reiterated that the state was inclined to set right the pay anomalies of its employees and sought the cooperation from JACTTO-GEO.  

The group of ministers that held talks includes Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, who also holds personnel and administrative reforms portfolio, Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar, and School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan. 

Sources said the ministers assured the forum that the panel’s report on 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) would be obtained before this month end, and orders on the same would be passed. 

The panel led by additional chief secretary (finance) K Shanmugam to examine the recommendations of the CPC was originally tasked to submit its report by June 30. The ministers explained that the delay incurred was due to the change of the panel’s chair.