TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Members of the Goa Recruitment and Employment Society (GRES) union called off their strike after a day long sit-in Sunday, after months of protests, on assurances from the Opposition MLAs that Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar would not go back on his word. The employees have planned to meet periodically to ensure that the assurances given to them are fulfilled.
Speaking to media persons, Goa Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) president Ajitsingh Rane said the reason for calling off the strike was multiple assurances from the leaders of the Opposition.
“Because of the assurances given by Naresh Sawal, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and Vijai Sardesai that the CM would not go back on his word, we have decided to stop the strike for the moment,” Rane said. He, however, added that the union would meet regularly to check on the fulfillment of their demands by the government.
“We will be setting April 6, 12 and 15 for our in-house activities at the T B Cunha hall, (Panjim). The government has promised to release advertisements for the posts of security guards and housekeeping by April 15, so we will wait till then,” Rane said.
This end of the strike will be a huge relief to some union members as they will now be able to go home after months of protests at the Azad Maidan. Mahendra Vagurmekar, GRES union general secretary who hasn’t been home for over a month said, he is relieved to be going home, but will come back if they were not given the promised jobs.
