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MTNL employees defer indefinite strike till June 15

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd class III and IV employees on Saturday deferred their indefinite strike from May 15 by one month after Communications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's assurance to them to consider their demand of timely and secured payments of pension and other benefits.

"We have assured the employees' unions that all benefits of pension would be given to them on time, whether through a Trust or otherwise is a matter of detail, but no employee would be denied his benefit," Paswan told reporters after a two-hour long meeting with the union representatives.

If the Trust was made, Department of Telecommunications would ensure security of employees' benefits, Paswan said, adding that Chairman of Telecom Commission would be the functional head of that Trust.

Reacting to the minister's assurance, Sarup Singh, General Secretary of MTNL Staff Unions, said, "We have deferred the strike and not called it off, on the assurance that class III and IV employees would be treated on par with officers."

In case, the officers were given pension from Trust, the Class III and IV employees would accept.

On the formation of Trust, however, Singh said the DoT would work out all modalities and the minister would hold another meeting with the unions after June 15 to take a final view on this.

The minister has, however, assured that the employees would be getting payment with regard to pension and other related benefits from a "single window".

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