Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
Joseph Campbell, US Prof of Literature
I joined the Indian Postal Service in 1978 and was given my first regular charge as Sr. Supdt. of Post Offices (SSPOs), at Kota, Rajasthan in November 1980. Kota in those times was a hub of industrial activity, but was plagued by an extremely militant trade union movement, which had influenced union activity in government establishments too. The locals proudly proclaimed that Kota was part of the Hadoti area, and there was aggression in their blood because of the Chambal water. The Postal Staff Unions were certainly aggressive but not very progressive; interested as they were in pushing individual cases only, without any interest in welfare activities for the staff as a whole. I arrived in Kota in this milieu. The Division comprised the three districts of Kota, Jhalawar and Baran and had about 1,600 employees. The SSPOs was the sole Class I officer, in charge of all operations and personnel management functions.
I had already been briefed about the unruly behaviour of the union leaders because of which no SSPOs had stayed in Kota for more than eight to ten months, over the last several years. Since I was on my first posting, carried no baggage of previous successes or failures and had no favourites, the unions apparently decided to give me some time during which they would assess me. Maybe, they expected me to seek a transfer after a few months of the rough and tumble of a notorious Division. This lean time was enough for me to settle down and dig in my heels. I quickly started to work on personal matters of the staff on a first come first served basis. Leaves were sanctioned, transfers made on schedule and claims settled quickly, of course strictly as per rules. Differences would arise with the unions when they tried to push for irregular demands of the staff, or insisted on favourable treatment for their office bearers and active supporters. By this time, however, a large section of the staff had got their just issues resolved and the Divisional office was concentrating on improving their working conditions. Maintenance work was taken up, new furniture procured and poor buildings replaced with more hygienic and functional office space. Two new projects started taking shape on the ground for Head Post Office buildings in Kota and Jhalawar. Fewer staff members were now approaching the union leaders with personal grievances and even their union meetings were witnessing poor attendance. The tide was turning. I too could sense that the unions were losing their grip and the staff had no need to go to them if their demands were legitimate. It was not my intention to decimate the unions; on the contrary I looked upon them as a useful feedback channel in the classical MIS model. The goodwill was, however, not reciprocated.
I had made discipline the key requirement in all official interactions, including at my periodic meetings with the unions, which was seen as dictatorial by them. With staff support weakening, the unions tried to rake up more individual cases and started complaining of non acceptance of their demands. I was called a tanashah, or an autocrat. Things reached a point where the unions would, periodically, hold a mashaal jaloos, a protest with flaming torches, as a mark of protest in front of my official residence. The local CID unit would request me to accommodate their demands to deescalate the tension. Their obvious concern was that some miscreants could cause a flare up by throwing stones, or even a mashaal, into the crowd, and things could get out of control. On a couple of occasions, I did invite the union leaders for a meeting—while the protestors raised slogans, and heard them out holding out no promises. But these meetings gave them a face-saving peg and they were able to go out and address the protestors holding out promises of a resolution of their issues. The situation remained extremely tense for a few months. Then an unforeseen incident occurred.
We used to have branch post offices in villages and sub-urban areas which were run by extra-departmental staff, engaged on contract, on extremely poor wages. Apart from other problems this category of staff, being part time employees, were not regular employees and were not seen as government servants. The trade unions were also, therefore, not much interested in their problems. So they were the most neglected section of our manpower, which, nevertheless, performed the pivotal role of providing postal connectivity to the remotest parts in the division. Under this ground reality, one of our extra-departmental delivery agents was mercilessly beaten up by an inebriated police SHO, merely because he had insisted on obtaining a signature in token of delivery of a registered mail article. The poor delivery agent complained to his sub-post master, who in turn approached the trade union leaders. The union leaders, however, did not want to confront the local police. The staff got more and more dejected and after about two weeks, when the news reached me, I called the delivery agent to my office, heard him patiently and asked him to give a full report. By then the trade union leaders had been shown up as ineffective in helping the staff.
I took up the case with the local DIG of Police and the District Magistrate, but was not making any headway as the officers were inclined to suppress the matter. At this stage I challenged the trade unions to show their worth and to strike work in support of their colleague. This was unheard of—the SSPOs asking the trade unions to strike work. The local leaders were, however, advised by their higher leaders not to raise the pitch. The staff realised what was happening and built pressure on the unions to issue a call for a district wide strike, which the union leaders of the telephone department were inclined to support. These were days when Posts and Telegraphs was a single department. As pressure mounted from the staff of both posts and telegraph wings, the state level leadership was forced to step in, albeit in a half-hearted manner. Officers of both the departments were also drawn in to resolve the matter lest essential services got affected. Eventually, the national level leadership of the three major trade unions—AITUC, INTUC and BMS—had to raise their voice. The situation was becoming alarming and the state administration was forced to act on directions from Delhi. The SHO was placed under suspension and the strike call was withdrawn. The message went out, loud and clear, that more than the unions, the SSPOs would go to any length to safeguard the interest and honour of his lowest staff. The tide had turned fully.
Believe me when I say this, the most militant trade union leaders later came to my house in the middle of the night and apologised for whatever they had been doing over the last year or so. With tears in their eyes they sought forgiveness.
I left Kota after a few more peaceful months and was seen off at the railway station by a large number of employees, who decked up my coach with marigold flowers and garlands as the train rolled in from Bombay. The trade union leaders did not come, which I could understand. The lessons here are simple:
- Be true to your principles and look after the interest of the weakest;
- Lead from the front;
iii. Take calculated risks for larger objectives; and
- Remain humble in your success.
Arvind Saxena is an Indian civil servant and a former Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). A 1978-batch Civil Services officer, he served in the Indian Postal Service for ten years, before joining the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) of the Cabinet Secretariat, in 1988. After retirement from government, he joined the UPSC in May 2015.