Government has signed an agreement with the union stating “all 17 employees who were terminated will be reinstated. “Charter of demands including salary raise from Rs 10,500 to Rs 21,000 will be decided after a meeting within 15 days,” Calangute MLA Michael Lobo said, adding that all other demands would be looked after. “The entire gamut of problems would be resolved. All other demands would be looked into positively,” he said.
Life guards, supervisors, captains and other allied service staff had served a strike notice proposing to strike work on November 21 and 22 allegedly to protest harassment, victimization and anti-labour practices of the contractor.
Meanwhile, the government had threatened to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to thwart the strike call.
However, beaches across the State were partially affected, following the day-long strike by the lifeguards.
In Canacona, the strike evoked mixed response, as lifeguards were seen at most of the beaches.
At Palolem, about eight lifeguards, led by a captain rank, out of the 20 deputed personnel performed their day-long duty on Friday. Many tourists visited the beach and were seen enjoying in the waters when the lifeguards were already winding up for the day. The small presence of lifeguards managed to man the beach for the entire day.
At Calangute Beach, the tourist police personnel were seen warning the tourists not to venture into the sea in the absence of lifeguards. The tourist and other police personnel were kept on their toes by the tourists who took to swimming despite warnings.
