Punjabi University contract teachers rue salary cut

The Punjabi University Contract Teachers’ Association (PUCTA) today condemned the Punjab Government’s move to release part salaries of contractual staff. In a release issued here, the PUCTA said when people all over the country as well as Punjab were celebrating the festival of Diwali, contractual teachers working in different institutions of Punjabi University were expressing their anger against the Punjabi University administration.

Resentment grew among contractual teachers after the recent state government orders to all departments to release salaries of employees before Diwali. Punjabi University also released salary for the month of October for its employees.

“Contractual teachers of the university got a big shock when they found that reduced salaries were credited in their accounts. The contract teachers association contacted the Punjabi University administration about this huge cut in salaries, but did not receive any satisfactory response about this illogical move,” alleged Taranjit Kaur, PUCTA union president.

While strongly condemning this act of Punjabi University she said, “Punjabi University has been continuously exploiting contractual teachers for the past 15 years. Contractual teachers are forced to live on meagre salaries. The university authorities always find an opportunity to humiliate teachers.”