Employees unions must stand united: CPI leader

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite the different political leanings, employment unions must stand united against reforms that plague the employment sector, CPI State Secretary C K Chandrappan has said. He was inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of Kerala Secretariat Staff Association (KSSA) at the YMCA Hall here on Thursday.Receiving pension after retiring from the government job was once a right of every employee. But now there are new ideas cropping up across the globe as to how this money could be given to private companies and the profit they make (if any) be distributed as pension to public, Chandrappan said. If the Pension Reforms Bill is passed in the Lok Sabha, the practice of allocating pension money would come to an end, he said.He termed the allocation of an extra Rs 1,000 crore as Plan Outlay and another Rs 25 crore for Metro Rail to Kerala by the Centre as a political discrimination.  “It was Montek Singh Ahluwalia who once said the allocation was impossible when all Members of Parliament from Kerala had met him to press for more money during the time of LDF government. One day people will realise the  dirty politics behind the  allocation of sum when  UDF came to power,” he added.At a time when price rise and inflation - food inflation in particular - are gripping common man like anything, they find their salary insufficient. Which leads to increase in corruption in the society.  A new financial structure is being built with the huge backing from the corporate sector, Chandrappan criticised. M A Francis, president, KSSA, presided over the function. S Biju, general secretary, KSSA, welcomed the gathering.