PONDA: The workers of Sanjeevani sugar factory are on a strike demanding hike in salary as per the Maharashtra Wage Board.
Claiming that their salaries have not been increased since 2014, the workers have threatened to intensify their agitation if their demand is not met.
According to the workers, the government pays them salaries in accordance with the Maharashtra Sugar Factory Wage Board since 2009.
They said that they had given a one-month notice on June 3 to Administrator Damodar Morajkar that they would go on strike if their salaries are not hiked according to the Maharashtra Wage Board.
They were reportedly assured by the Administrator that their pending salaries would be cleared within a month, but failed to do so, hence, they went on strike from July 7; it entered sixth day on Friday.
The workers complained that compared to Goa government pay scale of its workers, the Sanjeevani workers are paid poor salary under the Maharashtra Wage Board. “But that too is not paid on time. Even clerical staffers of Sanjeevani do not cross a salary of Rs 25000 despite working for almost 25 years,” an aggrieved worker said and lamented, “Even sweepers and peons working for the Goa Government get above Rs 25,000 within a couple of years of joining service.
“Under Maharashtra wage Board, we get yearly hike in salary of just Rs 300-400 and for five years it goes just upto Rs 1500 hike, but that too is not paid to us on time,” another worker said.
The workers blamed the government for the Sanjeevani factory running in loss. They said that if the old machinery is replaced with modern one, the factory would run in profit.
