Plea to regularise jobs of outsourced workers at Erode medical college

Members of the Erode District Medical Department Workers’ Association, affiliated to AITUC, have urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to regularise the jobs of outsourced workers and also pay minimum wage

Members of the Erode District Medical Department Workers’ Association, affiliated to AITUC, have urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to regularise the jobs of outsourced workers and also pay minimum wages to non-permanent nurses working at Government Erode Medical College and Hospital (GEMCH) at Perundurai. In a petition by its president S. Chinnasamy submitted to Mr. Stalin, through Tiruppur MP K. Subbarayan, during his visit to the hospital on Sunday, members said that over 300 jobs for lab technicians, nurse assistants, housekeeping, security, gardeners, were outsourced in the hospital and were recruited and appointed by two private contractors. They were working for one to 15 years in the hospital for a minimum wage while nurses who had completed diploma in General Nursing and Midwifery were paid a maximum salary of ₹ 12,000 per month. “It is unfortunate that they were not paid their minimum wages as fixed by the State government in all these years”, the petition said and added that Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Limited had fixed the wages much lesser than the wages fixed by the State government. The petition also said that the contractors were deducting higher PF and ESI from the workers’ wages illegally and were also not remitting the deducted amount with the government. “Hence, they were paid a daily wage of ₹ 300”, the petition said and added that workers were not given other benefits as per the law. The petition urges the Chief Minister to take necessary steps and ensure that their jobs are regularised.