A Perspective on Vizag
Takes out rally from Saraswti Junction to Collectorate
GVMC Office, February 23, 2010
The sanitation workers of GVMC continued their on strike on Tuesday. The GVMC employees Union honorary president G Subba Rao said that the decision to continue the strike after consultation with the workers. In talks in the presence of the Joint Commissioner of Labour late on Monday evening, the GVMC officials had asked the union leaders to defer the strike till March 2 when the Municipal Commissioner and the Mayor could return from the Netherlands.
Subba Rao said the strike notice was served on February 5 and till February 21, they had time to respond to it. The request to defer the strike till their return is mislead the workers, he alleged. The delay would cause health problems in the city and the officials and Mayor would be responsible for it, he warned. He recalled that during the strike in January 2009 the GVMC officials had assured that the issues would be resolved in three months.
The workers gathered at the Saraswati Park from where they went in a rally from where they went to the Collectorate. Addressing the rally, union president G Venkata Reddy and others demanded that Rs.4,732 a month be paid to workers in the Gajuwaka municipality and 32 merged villages as notified by the Collector and Rs.3,900 to Subhram, Janachaitanya, DWCRA and day and night workers, ESI and PF cards be issued to them and weekly holiday sanctioned. They later submitted a memorandum to DRO D Venkat Reddy who assured them that it would be taken to the notice of the Collector.