Coimbatore: The Federation of Construction and Unorganised sector Trade unions have demanded the payment of pension arrears to the labourers before September 5 failing which they warned of agitations on September 10.
Coimbatore: The Federation of Construction and Unorganised sector Trade unions have demanded the payment of pension arrears to the labourers before September 5 failing which they warned of agitations on September 10.
The executive committee meeting of the construction and unorganized sector physical labourers was held at 4 PM at the HMS office in Singanallur, Coimbatore. The meeting was chaired by the Tirupur District Construction Labourers Development Association General Secretary V. Krishnasamy.
The Anna Construction and Unorganized Sector Labourers Association General Secretary G. Murugesan, Coimbatore Zone Construction Labourers HMS Association General Secretary G. Manoharan, AITUC Coimbatore Labour Union Trade Union General Secretary R. Balakrishnan, INTUC Labour Union President D. Siranjeevi Kannan, CITU Association General Secretary R. Velusamy, BMS Trade Union State Secretary B. Murugesan, and Coimbatore Division Unorganised Sector Labourer HMS Association Secretary S. Devarajan took part in the meeting.
The following resolutions were passed which were presented as requests:
Resolution 1: The pension for 5,000 pensioners of the 15 welfare boards of the Coimbatore District Unorganised Sector labourers has not been paid for the past 11 months.
A pension is a life saver, an amount paid to the aged when they are not in a position to earn their livelihood. Rs.1,000 pension a month will not compensate these aged people with all the expenses that they face in their old age. However, this Rs.1,000 will help them not to depend on their relatives for their medical expenses, even if they are dependent on them for their food. Only if their pension is paid regularly they can live with dignity.
These workers who worked for the growth of the country without any expectations or social security are not even being provided with their pensions regularly. This is a big injustice that is condemned by this federation.
The pending pension for the past 11 months must be paid immediately. Further, the payment of pension each month must be ensured, insists the federation. If the pension arrears are not paid within September 5, then a pensioners’ protest and siege will be staged at the Welfare Board office on September 10. This has been unanimously decided by the federation.
Resolution 2: Online registration of labourers into the Construction and Unorganized Sector Welfare Goard commenced on June 20. Those members who have registered in this manner in Coimbatore District have not been provided with their IDs so far.
Stating that these online applications are being considered, all the applications registered online have been returned for unnecessary reasons and IDs have not been provided. No clarity regarding the online registration was provided to the Trade Unions or the labourers by the Labour department.
Similarly the Coimbatore office officials have also stated that the Labour Department higher officials did not guide them regarding the consideration of the online applications.
Amid this, they refused to accept the verification certificate of the VAO and demanded for a corrected one, multiple times. As it is, it is exhausting to obtain one certificate from a VAO.
Hence a guideline regarding the processing of online applications must be provided immediately. Labour Union executives must be trained. Further, the verification certificates provided by the VAOs must be accepted and IDs must be provided.