TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: PWD contract workers union, in the general body meeting held on Wednesday, have demanded the immediate revision of salaries. The resolution has been passed to to increase the salary from a meagre Rs 4000 to Rs 10,000.
Speaking to the media, union leader Swati Kerkar said that the PWD is exploiting the worker by paying just Rs 4,000, and that too, the salaries are not paid on time. She said there are instances where workers salaries have not been paid for more than 4 to 5 months.
There are almost 750 contract workers who are associated with the union, out of which many have crossed more than 10 years of the service. “We demand the regularization of these workers instead of filling the fresh posts,” Kerkar said.
Kerkar said that meeting with the PWD minister a few months back turned futile as he had assured the workers that the issue would be resolved, but till date, the workers have been denied the proper scales and other demands which were made before him.
She said that every time the contractor under whom these workers are employed points to the PWD and PWD in turn points to the finance department; however, in the bargain the poor workers are suffering.
“We will place the demands before the government with an ultimatum very soon and later we will decide upon the further course of action,” Kerkar said.
400 PWD workers join CCP rally
Around 400 PWD workers headed by their union president Swati Kerkar joined the demonstration by CCP employees Union in Panjim. Around 1000 workers gathered together and took out a rally within Panjim.
“Today we had a major rally in Panjim wherein nearly 1000 workers demonstrated. Around 400 workers of PWD Workers’ Union joined us in the rally,” said President of CCP Employees Union, Ajitsing Rane.
Meanwhile, Rane also condemned the statement of CCP Mayor Shubham Chodankar threatening to outsource the work if CCP workers go on strike. “We are also protesting against the statement made by CCP Mayor Shubham Chodankar threatening us to outsource the work if we don’t agree to the wages offered to us,” he added.
