MUMBAI, JULY 18: Second-guessing a government which has showed no qualms while repeatedly reneging on its promises, degree college teachers have decided to change tack by postponing their July 21 indefinite strike and use the impending elections as a lever to get the authorities to implement the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations instead.Fearing that the government will refuse to announce revised pay scales by citing the election code of conduct, union leaders feel they can draw better mileage by taking the issue to the public.At a meeting of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (MFUCTO), the umbrella body governing degree college teachers, union leaders decided to launch a series of conventions all over the state in August and invite prospective candidates, political leaders and teachers to explain their stand on issues relating to education. ``We shall ask parties to include the question of implementing the revised pay scales in their manifestoes,'' MFUCTOPresident C R Sadasivan told Express Newsline. He said the teachers would postpone their strike till the election results are out. Degree college teachers had struck work country-wide last year, following which 11 states implemented the commission's revised scales. If the Maharashtra government were to follow suit, it would entail a burden of just Rs 180 crore. The remaining Rs 720 crore will be borne by the central government.E N Manjrekar, MFUCTO Executive Committee member, says the government has deliberately dilly-dallied on the issue so that it can cite the code of conduct as an excuse. ``We were never given any appointments to meet the chief minister, and when we did meet him informally, we were told that a decision would be taken in two-three days. But nothing was done,'' he explains.The MFUCTO also plans to bring up several issues related to education, which, they point out, has been neglected by the state government. This includes no-grant colleges, which according to Manjrekar, are``exploiting teachers and students''. Teachers in these colleges are not paid properly though on paper things appear quite different, he says. Also, since these colleges do not get funds from the government, they charge their own fees, he says.The government's decision to grant autonomy to various colleges has also raised the unions' hackles. They say such institutions will lack transparency. ``We have nothing against autonomy, but we have to identify managements which have set up colleges only for the purpose of education and not for minting money,'' Sadasivan points out.
