Meghalaya: NEHU union refutes VC’s claim on a charter of demands

The casual employees under the banner of the registered Trade Union All NEHU Workers Union (ANWU) refuted the claim of the vice-chancellor (VC) of North Eeast Hill University (NEHU) with regard to the charter of demands.

Speaking to media persons, vice president of ANWU Iba Nongrum said there is only one Charter of Demands (CoD) dated 29 April which was submitted by ANWU to VC Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla and the University Negotiation Committee (UNC) on August 8 hence the statement related to changing of a charter of demand (COD) every time as stated by the VC is incorrect.

“There is only one Charter of Demands and the remaining letters which were sent by the union are part of the CoD which are related to the provision of safety kits, gloves, sanitizers, medical allowance, dearness allowances, etc,” said Nongrum.

Nongrum said that the silent protest cum hunger strike started on the 1st of June and later on 15 June it was suspended by the requested by the first committee under the chairmanship of Prof. Don Syiem but the union had compelled to resume the protest on 8 July after the grievances and redressal committee fail to include any of the casual workers in the committee.

She added that the chairman of the negotiation committee made it a one-man’s committee and was never communicated to casual workers before the approval of the draft meant to address the plights of the casual workers.

“The union resume the silent protest cum hunger strike on August 18 as the NEHU authority has failed to provide any written assurances with regards to the status report of regularization, and implementation of equal pay for equal work” she added.

With regard to the number of casual workers in NEHU, Iba Nongrum said that as per the RTI there are 323 in Shillong and 39 in Tura and the actual pay of these workers is Rs 17,430 for Unskilled, Rs 19,680 for Semi Skilled, Rs. 23,100 for Skilled and Rs. 25,380 for Highly Skilled workers excluding 12% EPF and 1.75% ESI & as per Ministry of Labour government of India.

In this regard, Nongrum said that the casual workers have no issue with NEHU or its Vice Chancellor but they seek written assurance from the authority with regard to their demands especially when it comes to regularization and the release of full salary for July and August.