CHENNAI: The members of Labour Progressive Federation (LPF), workers’ union affiliated with the DMK, withdrew their plan to protest against the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) on Wednesday after Minister KN Nehru assured them of action on implementing the G.O. to increase wages for skilled labourers.
In June 2023, the Labour and Welfare Skill Development Department issued a G.O. mandating wage revision for employees of local bodies in the state. However, only unskilled workers in GCC received a pay hike.
Temporary skilled workers, including Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) staff nurses, Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists and data entry operators, currently earn between Rs 13,000 and Rs 18,000 per month despite holding diplomas or degrees, while unskilled workers earn over Rs 20,000.
They also urged GCC to discontinue the practice of hiring employees for administrative work through private contractors.
In addition, they demanded the cancellation of the new pension scheme and the reinstatement of the old pension scheme.
The LPF further called for the filling of 5,921 permanent vacancies across various departments in the GCC.
The members of the federation said though they repeatedly took up the issue with GCC officials, no action was taken, prompting the union to announce a protest on Wednesday.
However, a day before the protest, Nehru held discussions with the federation president Babu Manickaraj, Kumar, and other union members, and assured them that action would be taken to implement the wage revision.
Following this assurance, the LPF announced a temporary withdrawal of the protest.