Antony calls union leaders for talks

TRIVANDRUM, 10 March — Kerala Chief Minister A. K. Antony has called leaders of the staff unions, who are on an indefinite strike from Feb. 6, for talks, even as the strike turned violent at many places in the state yesterday. The meeting will be held at the Secretariat Durbar Hall at 11 a.m. today, Antony told journalists after an unofficial Cabinet meeting. The chief minister, who has all along been maintaining that there was no question of restoring the curtailed perks over which half a million employees are on warpath, said there has been some unofficial talks between the leaders of the ruling UDF and striking unions.