PURI: A lady trade unionist and medical practitioner, Dr K Hemalata, was elected president of Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU) at the 15th National Conference which concluded here on the Wednesday. There are 5000 trade unions across the country with a total of over 60 lakh members.
The five-day conclave concluded on Friday. It was resolved at the conference that the State and Central Governments should pay wages as per Supreme Court guideline -- equal wages for equal work. This includes daily wage earners, contractual workers and ad-hoc employees. The speakers said, CITU would fight for the interest of anganwadi workers, ICDS, Sarva Sikhya and Sikshya Sahayaks.
In January, CITU would launch a nation-wide movement to get all these under the labour fold to ensure that they get proper wages.
Outgoing president AK Padmanabhan presided over the conference. Other elected officer bearers include Parliament member Tapan Sen general secretary and ML Malkottia treasurer. This apart, 16 vice-presidents and an equal number of secretaries were elected, including Bishnu Prasad Mohanty from Odisha.