EDITORIAL PUBLISHED IN POSTAL LIFE A MAGAZINE OF AIPEU POSTMEN&GR'D'/MTS ON NEWLY FORMED GDS UNION EXPLAINING THE BACKGROUND CORRECTLY AND EFFECTIVELY. THANKS TO COM. I.S. DABAS, GS

DAWN OF A NEW GDS ORGANISATION

The P&T Trade Union movement right from its inception had taken up the cause of the downtrodden Extra Departmental employees in the Postal. The NFPTE leadership  led by Dada Ghosh stood firm and not relented by declining to withdraw  the call of the indefinite strike  until the then Government conceded the demand for constitution of the ED Pay Committee called the Rajan Committee in 1957. Step by step improvements and in between snatching away of the hard won rights of this lowest strata of the postal workers by the authorities is the life storey of EDAs who are currently called as the GDS. NFPTE was denied the right to form a separate union as its affiliate in 1954 by the Government on the grounds that they are not regular employees. Even the latest New Recognition Rules follows the footsteps of the earlier policy and that is the background of the NFPE recognised without GDS Union affiliation.

However the NFPE succeeded in forming a strong union of GDS in 1999 because of the great role played by the then Secretary General NFPE Comrade K. Adinarayana. Despite his word was ‘gospel’ amongst the lakhs of GDS at that time and despite the situation that anyone named by him could win hands down as the General Secretary of the newly constituted AIPEDEU, he chose to accept the proposal of others and unanimous panel was elected at Kaiwara foundation conference of AIPEDEU. The magnanimity of Comrade Adinarayana was notonly not reciprocated by the leadership but step by step anti-NFPE platform became the bulwark of the AIPEDEU leadership. Trade Union democracy was butchered in its subsequent AICs to prevent any democratic forces capture the leadership.

The achievements if any gained by the EDAs or the GDS are purely because of the joint movement built up by the NFPE. But attacking the NFPE and its leadership at every available opportunity has become the basic strategy of AIPEDEU leadership. NFPE has been blamed for any failures on the part of the leadership of AIPEDEU. United movement and joint struggle have been the fundamental policy of the NFPTE and NFPE. But adventurist and individual action to undermine the NFPE and joint action in order to get cheap popularity had become the fundamental direction of AIPEDEU. All the efforts taken by the NFPE including measures to normalize the relation with the AIPEDEU to build a common movement in the interest of all postal employees both regular and GDS are always been nullified by the strategic ambition of the leadership of AIPEDEU to tarnish the Federation. Democratic traditions have been buried and major decisions including indefinite strikes and anti-NFPE actions have been taken without even convening the managing bodies like the CWC. The net result of the above course of action has resulted in huge losses to the three lakhs of GDS. The GDS became the target point of attack by the Authorities and Government due to the disunity created by the whole approach of the AIPEDEU. The mass of GDS are under attack but the AIPEDEU leadership has no answer except to blame the NFPE for all ills caused by its own failures.

The suffocation of large masses of GDS who always cherished the united movement under the banner of the NFPTE and NFPE have raised the above questions in the latest AIC of AIPEDEU in Mozri Conference and they have also raised so many questions about the mismanagement of the finances of union collected from the poor GDS all over the country. The leadership has no answer to the pointed questions of the delegates except to deny them their democratic opportunity to speak. At the height of the undemocratic attitude of the leadership, the delegates from several circles including many major circles condemned the leadership and came to the conclusion that any continuance under this undemocratic leadership will result in further huge losses to the GDS interests and a new organisation for the GDS has become the urgent requirement for launching united movement in advancing the cause of the downtrodden GDS masses. They came forward to form such a new organisation with the title “All India Postal Employees Union – GDS[NFPE]” there itself and elected an Adhoc Office Bearer body to form the union from grass roots to the apex level within a time frame of six months. Hundreds of delegates from several circles and hundreds of visitors attending the AIC have then walked out of the AIC and their huge and long procession ended in another accommodation ‘Shiv Mandir’ where they have conducted the first ever meeting of the new born organisation AIPEU-GDS[NFPE] and resolved to build the organisation and strive for united movement under the able guidance of the NFPE federation.

NFPE formed its first ED Union in 1999 to build a powerful joint movement but the effort was thwarted by the leadership with its own selfish goals and designs. Now a new organisation with the declared policy of united functioning under the guidance of NFPE and its affiliated regular employees’ organisations is born on 7^th April, 2012. The P4 CHQ extends its warm congratulations to the leadership of the AIPEU-GDS[NFPE] and assures total cooperation at all levels from the CHQ to branch levels. The P4 organisation will stand shoulder to shoulder with the new formation and will fight to its potential as was the tradition created by our organisation under the leadership of Comrades V. G. Dalvi and K. Adinarayana. We hail the dawn of this new GDS organisation and wish it gains strength from strength organisationally and ideologically and emerge as the real champion of three lakhs of GDS masses.