The Telangana Electricity Trade Unions Front (TETUF), which was planning to go on lightning strike any time after October 23 in support of their long pending demands, has withdrawn its agitation programme after the talks held with the managements of power utilities were successful here on Saturday.
During the meeting with the representatives of about 20 unions, the officials who represented the management have agreed to several demands of the unions, including naming the standing orders in respect of the artisans as Artisans Service Rule and Regulations, to fix their pay as on October 1 this year as per the existing notified scale duly protecting their present consolidated remuneration. Pay in excess of the minimum scale with allowance would be treated as their personal pay.
On behalf of the managements, Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Genco and TS-Transco D. Prabhakar Rao, CMDs of TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL G. Raghuma Reddy and A. Gopal Rao, respectively, Joint MD of TS-Transco C. Srinivasa Rao, one Director each from TS-Genco and the two distribution companies and five other officials participated in the talks. From TETUF, its chairman N. Padma Reddy, convenor E. Sridhar and 17 other representatives of union were present at the meeting.
Other demands agreed upon by the managements include provision of DA instead of VDA as per the notified scale, provision of HRA, CCA, medical allowance, conveyance allowance, paid holidays and corporate allowance, opening of service registers for artisans along with recording their pay fixation in it, issuance of pay slips, consideration of wage revision for artisans during the next wage revision and compassionate appointments to the dependants of artisans who died with retrospective effect from December 4, 2016.
Besides, a competent authority for dealing with disciplinary matter would be considered, extension of facilities given to artisans to the employees of Rural Electricity Supply Cooperatives and provision of funeral charges to the families of artisans on the latter's death.
On the issue of implementing GPF, instead of EPF to the employees recruited during February 1, 1999 to August 31, 2004, representative of TETUF would be taken to Chief Minister to sort it out and amendments to artisans service rules would be considered separately. Other demands would be discussed during the third week of November.
After the talks, Mr. Prabhakar Rao said both the managements and employees of the power utilities were like family members and two sides were working to protect the interests of the utilities and the State.
