PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry Munnetra Thozhilalar Congress, a trade union wing of the Puducherry Congress on Tuesday demanded the reinstatement of all the workers who had been retrenched by the AINRC government.
At the May Day function organised by the Thozhilalar Congress under the chairmanship of K Lakshminarayanan, MLA, 19 resolutions were adopted in support of their various demands for the welfare of working class.
Despite the loss of lives and suicide attempt by some retrenched workers, the government was keeping silent which was inhumane, said Lakshminarayanan.
The government was criticised for the closure of textile mills and they cautioned the government against selling or leasing out any land belonging to the textile mills.
The trade union also demanded that the government regularise the good number of contract labourers serving in the industry, fix minimum wages for all sectors and also raise the wages for those work which has been fixed long ago. They urged the government to set up a welfare board for auto, tempo, taxi workers.
Further, the trade union wanted the Puducherry government to submit a recommendation to the Centre for reviving the family pension, enhancing the gratuity by amending the Act, enhance the ceiling on bonus and take adequate steps for control of spiraling prices.
The meeting also ridiculed the Chief Minister for extending May Day greetings when his government had lost propriety to do so after retrenching close to 5000 workers employed by the previous Congress government.
Fight for retrenched workers to continue Rajya Sabha member and veteran Congress leader P Kannan has assured the retrenched workers of fighting for their cause and would stand by them, after a group of retrenched employees of Indira Gandhi Medical College and Research institute called on him on Monday.
The Congress party would be behind them, he said after holding discussions with them. Despite the Congress recruiting them, and some of the retrenched employees being from the constituency of Chief minister, the action was condemnable.