Hospital contract staff in Nalgonda give strike notice

Medical contract workers attached to various government hospitals have issued a strike notice to the authorities, informing that they would go on strike after completion of the 14-day notice period if their demands are not met.

Workers, who include patient caretakers, security guards and ward sanitation staff, said they are being paid a salary of ₹ 5000 and a few among them ₹ 7, 200 per month. The District Government General Hospital alone has about 150 such workers.

The frontline staff, who wish to be anonymous for fear of job loss, said they were taking care of more wards and duties in wake of COVID-19 and risking lives. And at least six of their colleagues in the town have tested positive and are fending for themselves now.

According to All India Trade Union Congress State secretary Palla Devender Reddy, the order mandates ₹ 9, 500 salary per month, but the workers get only ₹ 5000 in their bank accounts.

“The workers’ salaries are to be decided as per formula, on bed-basis, is not being followed by contractors and their sub-contractors, who are only exploiting their labour. The GO was last updated in 2011,” he alleged.

Mr. Reddy added that the ₹ 300 per day allowance for workers of COVID wards, as announced by the government, remains to be released.