With strong warnings, V. Annamalai, the National Secretary of the All India Federation of Elementary Teachers’ Organisations (AIFETO), and Senior Leader of the Thamizhaga Aasiriyar Koottani, has announced a statewide strike that is set to start from January 6, 2026.
This came as a result of the complete breakdown in discussions on December 22, 2025, between the ministerial committee and JACTO-GEO, FOTO-GEO teacher unions. Annamalai added that the patience displayed by teachers and the government has been gravely misunderstood by the latter, as it believes that the meeting was nothing but an effort to wrest their rights away.
Annamalai described the meeting headed by Public Works Minister E V Velu, a “staged drama,” and noted that Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi played the role of mere spectators and did not provide a single constructive suggestion regarding the pressing problems in their respective departments. In response to Minister Velu saying that demands will be considered prior to the formal announcement of the coming election, Annamalai outrightly rejected this ruse.
Annamalai asked how the Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, could keep himself unaware of these basic demands for four and a half years after coming into power, calling the invitation for talks a mere eyewash to shift focus away from the government’s failure.
According to the leader of the AIFETO, the elected government seems to be controlled by the IAS officers who are neglecting the welfare of the employees just to harmonise with the Central Government. The leader stated that this situation is actually reducing the Chief Minister’s vote bank, and this is something that M.K. Stalin still does not realise.
Thus, the federations have decided that the state of Tamil Nadu is going to come to a halt on the 6th of January as the 6.25 lakh workers who are working under the New Pension Scheme (CPS) worker strike demanding the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) by 2026, the setting of proper salary scales between the secondary and post-graduate teachers, and immediate appointments in the vacant posts. Issuing a final warning to the administration, Annamalai said,
“Though unions have never been beaten in history, no administration in Tamil Nadu that has opposed its employees has ever come back to power again. So 2026 will certainly be a year for incumbent rights and the bad effects of this betrayal will severely affect the DMK government during the counting for the 2026 election.”
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