The Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) on Tuesday served an indefinite strike notice from March 1, in support of its various demands.
Over 15,000 SRMU activists, including women employees converged in front of the SRMU office in Chennai.
A delegation led by SRMU General Secretary N Kanniah, went upto the Southern Railway (SR) headquarters and served the notice to the SR's General Manager Thomas Varghese.
The main demand is that the Centre constitute the sixth pay commission.
Later, talking to reporters, Kanniah, also the Vice-President of All India Railwaymen's Federation and Central Government employees Joint Action Council convenor, said the formation of a new pay commission was due since 2003.
The minimum wages of railwaymen and other central government employees was only Rs 4628,whereas it was Rs 7,000 in the banking industry and Rs 8,000 in coal and mining sector, he said.
Though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said a pay commission for the central employees was due, no formal announcement had been made, he added.