: Employees of the 500 Tasmac outlets that downed shutters earlier this week are in a dilemma with regard to their career and future. Even though the State government has assured that these employees would be redeployed at shops where there are vacancies, the employees feel that this is not a permanent solution.
“When the State government closes more shops in Phase II, it would be difficult for them to accommodate those employees within Tasmac. When all the shops are closed, what will happen to us? Where will we be accommodated?” questioned Shankar (name changed), a Tasmac employee at Koyambedu.
Officials of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd (Tasmac) have started meeting employees of the outlets that were closed to accommodate them at shops where there is a shortage of staff.
Each district-level manager has prepared a seniority list with the date of joining and date of birth of the employees.
One of the district-level managers said, “We will be accommodating employees based on seniority.”
But employees allege that there are malpractices and some official are being partial. For instance, at Tiruvallur West where 19 shops have been closed, some employees said that the district manager is accommodating people close to him. One of them alleged that employees were asked to sign a letter saying that they belonged to the outlets that were closed and were allotted job as per seniority.
The letter, he claimed, also mentioned that employees should not approach the court in this regard .
Fifteen employees with whom The Hindu spoke to said that the redeployment was just a temporary strategy and the State should explain what would happen to them once all the shops are closed.
D. Dhanasekaran, general secretary of the AITUC-affiliated Tamil Nadu Tasmac Employees’ Union, said, “Malpractices are happening at various locations and the government needs to look into this issue.”
He also said that they would be submitting a letter to the State government regarding the redeployment process. “We want the whole process to be transparent and no employee should be left behind,” he said.
