Multipurpose workers, who were appointed through employment exchange to the divisions of the Indian Systems of Medicine, are demanding regularisation of their service.
The Tamil Nadu Public Health Ayush Workers Union, which has taken up their cause, has demanded that the ₹15,000 promised to the workers for working on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic should be paid immediately.
The workers should be paid their salaries on the first of every month and they should be given a weekly off with pay, the Union said at its meeting held on Sunday in Tiruchi.
Union president R. Ramendran said: “Most of us are over 40 and we require financial protection. The State government should bring us under the Employees State Insurance Scheme and the Employees Provident Fund scheme.”
A number of workers have been posted to distant places on low salaries. Given the rising cost of living, the workers want to be posted in primary health centres closer to home. The union has decided to go on an indefinite fast in front of the Secretariat from June 15, until their demands are met.
