MRB nurses in Coimbatore demanded time scale pay and making their jobs permanent. They protested in a novel manner by wearing their demands written down on 'demand cards'.
Coimbatore: Coimbatore: MRB nurses in Coimbatore have demanded a timescale pay and their jobs be made permanent. They protested in a novel manner by wearing their demands written down on 'demand cards,'.
In 2015, the TN Government appointed 10,000 nurses through the Nurses’ Competitive exams of the Medical Services Recruitment Board. They were appointed as contract workers with a stipulated salary of Rs.7,700. They were assured of a time scale pay and that their jobs would be made permanent after two years of service. However, the promise has not been fulfilled even after five long years.
While there is huge gap in the pay scale between the contract and the permanent nurses, the workload is quantifiably similar. In 2018, while discussing a public welfare case, the Chennai High Court had said that a committee must be formed to analyse equal pay for the nurses who perform equal duties. Despite this verdict, the MRB contract nurses who work in the same manner as the regular nurses are paid a consolidated pay of Rs.14,000 and have not been made permanent even after five years.
While the MRB contract workers are equally involved in the COVID-19 preventive measures, the government still keeps playing the partiality card. Therefore, the contract nurses have demanded timescale pay and their jobs be made permanent. MRB nurses all over TN wore these demands written out on a 'demand card' and reported for work. On those lines, the nurses in Coimbatore wore the ‘demand cards' to work as well.