SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2024
Team Herald
VASCO: As many as 47 workers of a company based in the Verna Industrial Estate staged their protest against their retrenchment outside the company premises for the consecutive 50th day on Monday.
These workers are demonstrating under the banner of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Goa State Council, demanding that the company’s management roll back its decision and arrived at an amicable and reasonable settlement with the protestors.
AITUC Goa State Council Prasanna Utagi said that these 47 workers were retrenched on Easter Sunday on March 31 by sending them WhatsApp messages and credited an amount supposed to be their legal dues on the same night. He said that most of the retrenched workers were working for more than 25 years.
Utagi alleged that workers retrenchment was the most inhuman and most uncalled for illegal action when most of the demands of the workers were pending before the Commissioner of Labour, Panjim, for last more than 18 months. He argued that as persection 33 A of the Industry Dispute Act, when any dispute is under conciliation, the management must take permission from the Commissioner of Labour, which according to him, had not happened in this case and 47 workers were retrenched overnight.
On the other hand, the management has filed a case against the striking workers and the Union before the Civil Court stating that the workers don't have the right to sit outside the company.
