Municipal outsourced workers on January 2 (Tuesday) announced that their indefinite strike would continue, after a second round of talks with the Andhra Pradesh government failed to find common ground on a host of issues.
Expressing disappointment after the second round of talks held at the Secretariat, general secretary of the CITU-affiliated A.P. Municipal Workers’ and Employees’ Federation, K. Umamaheswara Rao, told The Hindu that there was no clarity from the government on the workers’ chief demand of equal pay for equal work and regularisation of their services.
“At first, the Ministers seemed to respond positively to some of our 13 demands. But after lunch, Government Adviser (Public Policy) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the demand for equal pay for equal work cannot be met, as others also will start demanding the same. He asked us to call off the strike, but we told the Ministers that it is not going to happen,” Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said.
