Even as the employee unions are gearing up to launch a massive protest on Thursday in Vijayawada, the State government has said the doors are always open for the employees to hold talks, but has warned that action will be taken if the unions continue to strike a strident note.
In two press conferences addressed at the Chief Minister’s Office on Wednesday, Advisers Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and Chandrasekhar Reddy said the employee unions continued to persist with their demand for resolving the three contentious issues, which included the release of the findings of the latest and 11th Pay Revision Commission report.
“It is unfortunate that some unions are continuing to raise old demands even after holding many rounds of discussions. Even after the State government has given an unprecedented Interim Relief (IR) of 23%, the unions are still trying to create an issue,’’ said Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, and urged the unions not to be influenced by the vested interests.
Pandemic impact
Stating that the global pandemic had severely affected the earnings of the State, he said the government had spent a whopping ₹60,000 crore on handling the pandemic.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Reddy said that employees should realise that the pay slips had shown increased salary and the adjustments would be done.
‘Rethink protest plan’
Meanwhile, Chairman of the A.P. State Fibernet Limited Gowtham Reddy asked the protesting employees to rethink their decision to undertake the ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ programme, saying that most of the State and Central government employee unions would not be participating in the protest planned on Thursday.
“No government has given five Dearness Allowances so far even during the pandemic,” said Mr . Gowtham Reddy.
