Tuesday, June 28, 2011: Blaming the UPA Government for “forcing” media employees to agitate, CPM stalwart V S Achuthanandan today sought intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for immediate notification of wage board recommendations.
There was no justification for delaying pay revision for journalist and non-journalist staff of newspapers and news agencies as this was the only sector where the wages had been stagnating for long, the Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly said.
He was speaking at a day-long fast organised jointly by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and Kerala Newspaper Employees Federation (KNEF) here.
“It is a rare occurrence that newspaper employees are forced to agitate. As part of their duty, they often highlight the grievances of others. Now they are themselves forced to launch an agitation to press their genuine demand. The Union Government and Prime Minister can no longer ignore their protest,” Achuthanandan said.
RSP All-India general secretary T J Chandrachudan said denial of proper wages to employees in the news sector would ultimately undermine the very institution of the fourth estate as a supporting pillar of a democracy.
CPI-M leader and former Kerala assembly speaker M Vijayakumar, Congress leader and former minister Pandalam Sudhakaran, Lok Sabha members M B Rajesh and A Sampath, Kerala Press Academy Chairman S R Sakthidharan and leaders of various trade unions addressed the fasting members.
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