SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 2024
Team Herald
PONDA: Even as the cash-strapped Goa Dairy is in the process of retrenching workers they do not need, in a bid to plug their losses, a verbal spat broke out between Union leader Puti Gaonkar, Union leader and Goa Dairy Chairman Rajesh Fal Dessai, over the said retrenchment.
On Wednesday, Gaonkar had warned Goa Dairy not to follow through with its proposal to lay off around 32 employees who had worked at the State Cooperative for five to seven years, some of whom are working on a probation period.
The Union leader had said that these workers are needed by the milk production plant, with Goa Dairy’s milk sale on the rise. He had warned Goa Dairy against the removal of their employees and threatened to challenge the retrenchment in Court.
Reacting to the warning, Rajesh Fal Dessai said that Goa Dairy does not require advice from Gaonkar, and would go ahead with laying off the excess employees illegally recruited during the tenure of the Administrator. “Excess employees are a burden on Goa Dairy, which is run in the interest of its farmers,” said Fal Dessai.
Goa Dairy is currently running at a loss, and salaries are being spent on excess staff, said Fal Dessai, adding that around 10 employees who were recruited illegally would be laid off.
“Five thousand farmers work hard to provide milk to Goa Dairy, keeping it in business. However, the farmers are getting poor returns as money is being spent on staff that we do not need,” he explained. Fal Dessai also said that the cooperative would not retrench any workers that were recruited as per the rules. “When milk consumption and revenues increase again, we will definitely need workers. We will consider the retrenched staff at that time,” said Fal Dessai.
