The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) President, Christopher Fonseca, has demanded the immediate implementation of the 7th Pay Commission for workers employed in panchayats, along with reforms in staffing patterns and the regularisation of long-serving temporary staff. He warned that if these demands are not addressed, panchayat workers across Goa would launch a strike in September.
Fonseca pointed out that a large number of daily wage and temporary workers—including stenographers, typists, peons, and data entry operators—have yet to be regularised, despite years of service. He emphasised the need for these workers to be absorbed into the permanent workforce and treated with fairness.
“A memorandum is being sent to both the Chief Minister and the Minister for Transport,” Fonseca said, adding that AITUC has been representing these workers since 2016. “Since Pramod Sawant became Chief Minister in 2018, we have consistently engaged with him, urging implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. He has never said he won’t implement it—but he hasn’t done it either. That’s the sad part,” he remarked.
Fonseca also criticised Minister for Transport Mauvin Godinho, who he said has repeatedly assured workers that the 7th Pay Commission would be enforced. “Even during the All India Conference of Panchayat Employees held in Margao in 2019, both the Chief Minister and Godinho publicly promised to implement it. The same promise was reiterated three years later, and again, just recently, on July 28, in the Assembly,” Fonseca noted. “But as the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating—they need to act on their words.”
Highlighting the solidarity among panchayat workers, Fonseca said, “Fortunately, these workers show remarkable unity across the state. They are grassroots employees, essential to local governance.”