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Chandigarh: PGI contractual workers upset as pay budget fails to get nod
Union health ministry turns down ₹38-crore budget for implementation of notification regarding “Equal work and equal work”
PGI Employees Union (non-faculty) condemned the Union health ministry for not approving the budget proposal of ₹38 crore to implement the Union government notification regarding equal work and equal pay to contractual employees.
The union has sent a letter to the Union health secretary on Monday regarding the matter.
General Secretary Ashwani Kumar Munjal said, “On May 2, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain had presented the Union government’s stand before the court that a decision in this regard would be taken by June 30. But till now, the decision is pending. The matter is listed for July 7. But no reply has been filed so far. Due to this, about 6,000 employees of Post Graduate Institute for Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) are being deprived of their rights.”
Union labour ministry had issued a notification on October 9, 2018, stating that the PGIMER is exempted from certain provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, for two years.
The ministry had prohibited implementation of contract labour in the jobs of sanitation services (cleaning, sweeping and dusting), security services (watch and ward of the institute) and catering services to the admitted patients at the facility.
The exemption came at a condition that the hospital management must ensure that contractual workers get wages and facilities comparable to regular workers and the institute is subject to inspections for verifying compliance.
The case was heard by Punjab and Haryana high court on May 2 and the court after had passed an order that PGIMER will send a detailed proposal, along with the financial implications of implementing the notification.
Union members expressed regret over the fact the Union health ministry has failed to take appropriate action in time.
