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Postal workers vow to fight on: Reuters

Hundreds of thousands of striking Indian postal workers vowed to press on with their action on Wednesday as the government sought to get the paralysed mail service moving again.

The 600,000 postal workers pledged to fight on as their strike entered its second day on Wednesday.

"Until we succeed in solving our demands, we will continue our fight," said Ratneswara Rao, general secretary of National Union of Extra Departmental Agents, which provides postal services in rural areas.

The unions are on an indefinite strike to push for higher wages and full benefits and pension for 300,000 part-time members. They also want posts filled.

"The government has reneged on its promises and we don't trust them. Our strike will continue, unless the order is issued," Vidyadhar Pathak, secretary of Bharatiya Postal Employees Federation (BPEF), told Reuters.

The Press Trust of India said the Union Cabinet discussed the strike late on Tuesday while the government put into action a contingency plan to maintain skeletal services.

It quoted sources as saying a group of ministers, set up to deal with the walkout, would meet on Wednesday to discuss the strikers' demands.

Rao said the secretary-generals of BPEF, the National Federation of Postal Employees and the Federation of National Postal Organisations would meet the director general of posts on Wednesday.

The postal employees plan to march to Parliament on Thursday, he added.

On Tuesday, the unions met the labour commissioner, as required under the Indian Industrial Disputes Act 1947, to try to find a solution.

The commissioner appealed to the unions and the government to start talks, said NFPE secretary-general G K Padmanabhan.

The government made a last-ditch effort on Monday to head off the strike, saying a large part of the unions' demands were receiving attention in a "positive light".

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