After approximately a month of being on strike, the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union (PSMSU) has finally secured a meeting with the cabinet sub-committee scheduled for Tuesday. More than 50,000 employees from nearly 54 government departments have been on strike since November 8, asserting their demands.
Amit Arora, additional general secretary of the PSMSU, expressed optimism about the upcoming meeting, stating, “On Monday, we received the first communication from the Punjab government since the strike began. A sub-committee of three cabinet ministers has expressed interest in talking to us and hearing our demands. They have invited five union members to the meeting in Chandigarh on Tuesday afternoon. Let’s see what comes out of that meeting.” While the strike has drawn attention to the concerns of the ministerial staff, it has also adversely impacted the residents of Punjab. Balraj Singh, a Muktsar-based resident, emphasized the importance of government services for the common man, lamenting, “The government needs to understand that the works of the common man are important, and employees are paid to get these works done.” Kulbir Singh Brar from Chandigarh echoed these sentiments, expressing frustration over delays in personal matters. “We voted the government to power for good governance, not for month-long strikes across all government departments,” he remarked.
Notably, the strike has also affected the November salary of over 2 lakh government employees, as the clerical staff, including the treasury department responsible for final approval, has not cleared salary slips. The delay will impact their own salaries as well.
The employees are protesting the delayed implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS) and demanding the regularization of contractual staff, release of three pending installments of dearness allowance, and other issues. Amrik Singh Sandhu, president of the PSMSU, highlighted the union’s efforts to engage in dialogue, stating, “We had written to the CM thrice before going on a strike, and we will attend the meeting on Tuesday. Let’s see what comes out of that.”