CHENNAI: The Association of Universtiy Teachers (AUT) staged a protest with 65 of its members courting arrest in the city on Tuesday to press for pay hike - the academic grade pay by the University Grants Commission - and career advancement.
The AUT has also sent a memorandum to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to draw her attention to their long-pending demands. This is first of their four-day picketing and all the 65 arrested at Valluvarkottam were released later in the day.
Over 6,000 teachers have been denied increment and their grade pay has not changed after their appointment, according to M Ravichandran, AUT General Secretary. The teachers, appointed in January 2006, were opposed to the hike of `1,000 that should have been given in 2010 after four years of their service.
“This picketing is to draw the CM’s attention. There were talks between the government and our office-bearers on August 22. We had requested for talks with the Minister for Higher Education, but it was rejected. We have also written three letters since March 2014,” he said. He also wanted the CM to take action against instances of injustice meted out to professors at National College, Tiruchy, where admissions for the government-aided philosophy course has been closed against government’s orders. “The picketing will continue as scheduled in spite of the arrests,” Ravichandran added.