UMC workers go on strike

MUMBAI, December 16: The Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation employees have launched an indefinite strike since midnight today after yesterday...

MUMBAI, December 16: The Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation employees have launched an indefinite strike since midnight today after yesterday8217;s talks with the Commissioner Capt S H Shool failed.

The workers are demanding a salary hike in keeping with the new corporation status of the civic body, pending promotions for as many as 20-25 years in some cases and the next slab of salaries in cases where promotions are not possible. They have also condemned the quot;mass transfers in the sanitary department without prior notice.quot;

Vithal Shinde, vice-president, Labour Front which has called for the strike said, quot;We had already served a notice regarding the strike on December 1, but the UMC has not done anything about it.quot; Shool gave a new dimension to the whole problem. quot;Mayor Ganesh Chaudhary had asked his men in the octroi department to remove Rs 14,000 from the collections,quot; he alleged and added, quot;When I issued show cause notices to the trio involved I was put under pressure by both the Mayor and Gopal Rajwani ex-Sena corporator who was dismissed recently for his alleged involvement in an extortion racket to reinstate them.quot;

Shool said his attempts to bring the culprits to book has got him into trouble with Chaudhary and Rajwani who have engineered the strike.

The Front AITUC affiliated still has the Shramik Sena Shiv Sena affiliated and the Akhil Bharatiya Safai Majdoor Sangh Cong affiliated to contend with. Asked about support from both these unions, Shinde said, quot;Of course they have to. After all, the issues we are raising are pertinent to all civic employees.quot; Which is fine, except for the fact that neither the Sena Corporator and leader of the Shramik Sena Prakash Mahadik nor leader of the Sangh Charan Singh Tak agrees. While Tak seems to think that this is essentially a show of strength between the AITUC and the Sena, the Sangh would like to quot;wait and watchquot;.

The Sena feels that the Front8217;s loss in the recently held elections to the UMC Workers Credit Society is making it quot;desperate to prove that it still has the clout.quot; The Sena grabbed nine of the 11 seats, which was known to be a Front stronghold. Mahadik adds, quot;A strike will not help at this juncture,quot; and suggests, quot;Had we been handling it, by now we would have had Saheb the Sena chief resolving the issue in a flourish.quot;