Sixth Pay Commission: Health Dept staff on pen-down strike

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 8

On a call given by the Punjab UT Employees and Pensioners Joint Front, employees of the Civil Surgeon’s Office and district hospital went on a strike today against the Sixth Punjab Pay Commission.

The employees raised slogans against the Punjab Government and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and termed the implementation of the pay commission as a betrayal and injustice to employees.

Employee leaders said the report, which was being implemented after a delay of four and a half years, had deprived the employees of their due rights. They said the government had accepted a report in the favour of reducing the salaries of the employees instead of increasing them. He said that the employees would not remain silent till the government implemented a revised and pro-employee report.

The leaders said even if there was an economic crisis, it was due to the poor policies of the government. He said the employees had been hoping for 10 years that they would be given relief by the government in rising inflation. They said the Congress government had adopted an anti-employee attitude and instead of rewarding the employees for their outstandinervices during the pandemic, there had been a vicious attempt to punish them.

Members of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union, Mass Media Officers Association, Multipurpose Health Supervisors Association, ANM Union Punjab, Punjab State Health Department Class IV Employees Union and all other employees participated in the strike.