Government not to slap dies non on staff

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has decided to allow government employees and teachers who took part in the national strike called by various trade unions on January 8 and 9 to regularize their absence from work by availing casual leave, instead of imposing the dies non (no work no pay) provision in service rules.
A government order to this effect, dated January 31, was made available to the media on Tuesday.Though the state government has witnessed inclusion and removal of the dies non clause in service rules since 1970, the successive governments have imposed the clause only when opposition service organisations or trade unions are involved in strikes.
As all the trade unions except the BJP-affiliated BMS took part in the two-day strike against the ‘anti-people policies’ of the BJP government at the Centre, the state government’s decision not to implement dies non has not invited criticism from the opposition this time.
“However, the long-pending demand of the service organizations for the removal of the dies non clause remains. The LDF government is yet to implement the promise it had given in this regard,” said NGO Association state president N K Benny. It was the C Achutha Menon government which inserted the dies non provision in service rules for the first time in the state in 1970. It was later removed by the K Karunakaran government.
Usually, governments do not impose the clause when majority of the employees take part in a strike, said Benny. And, the leaders of organizations affiliated to both the UDF and LDF are for a total withdrawal of the clause.
M S Bijukuttan, the secretary of the pro-LDF Kerala Secretariat Employees Association said that there was no anomaly or bias in the government order. “It’s the general policy of the current LDF government to support its employees in their fight against anti-people policies of the Centre,” he said.