Around 4,600 outsourced employees in the Samagra Shiksha wing of the School Education Department are on the war path demanding immediate solution to their problems.
Their demands include implementation of Minimum Time Scale of ₹26,000, steps to reduce work load and timely payment of their salaries. The workers are on a strike from December 20. Prior to that they observed a pen-down strike for four days.
State Chairman of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Organisations (FAPTO) N. Venkateswarlu and secretary general Ch. Manjula condemned “indifference of the government towards the employees” and declared their full support to the ongoing strike.
They condemned the failure of the government to ensure timely payment of the monthly salaries of the employees who were being paid far less than what they deserved in terms of the amount of work extracted from them. They said the workers had not been paid salaries for the last three months.
Leaders of the United Teachers’ Federation (UTF) said the full-time outsourced employees of Samagra Shiksha were being paid a paltry monthly salary of ₹14,000. They said the government should invite their representatives for talks and do the needful to mitigate their financial woes and added that FAPTO members would also directly participate in the workers’ strike.