Railway Board gives recognition to two unions, AIRF, NFIR for five years

The Railway Board has given recognition to two federations of rail employees, the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) and the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR), for five years after their victory in the recently held secret ballot elections.

While recognizing the two federations, the board said that they have to follow the provisions of Indian Railway Establishment Manual and they will not maintain any political fund.

Board has decided to accord recognition to the two Federations namely All India Railwaymen's Federation and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen at Railway Board level for a period of five years, a board's letter dated January 13 said, specifying certain conditions for them to abide by.

On November 17, 2024, the Railway Board had constituted a Secret Ballot Election Committee-III (SBEC-III) which proposed certain norms for contesting federations to get recognition.

Based on those norms, secret ballot elections were held for three days from December 4 to 6, 2024 and the constituents of the two federations -- AIRF and NFIR -- received more than 15 per cent votes, one of the mandatory conditions to get Railway Board's recognition.

The board said that the two federations have to follow the provisions of Indian Railway Establishment Manual and they will not maintain any political fund.

Only a railway employee/honourably retired railway employee may hold any position in the Federation. Facilities from Railways shall be extended only to the office bearers of the Federation, it said, specifying some of the conditions.

The board also cautioned that the recognition may be withdrawn or suspended if there is violation of any of the clauses of the conditions.