Nearly 15,000 contract electricity workers in the State will stage a protest at the head offices of A.P. Southern and Eastern Power Distribution Companies Limited at Tirupati and Visakhapatnam on Monday to press for their long-pending demands.
Their main demands are that the Government regularize their services and issue orders for implementing the 15 per cent salary hike without further delay.
Led by Andhra Pradesh Electricity Contract Workers’ JAC, the contract workers of AP-Transco and DISCOMs went on strike for 12 days in 2014 but to no avail as the Government ignored their plight. A committee promised to be constituted to look into the demand for regularization of their services did not materialize.
The JAC leader R. Praveen told The Hindu that contract workers were discharging their duties under hazardous conditions as their safety was compromised. The salaries of permanent employees have been increased by 30 per cent but not a single extra penny was given to the contract workers.
The Government should not only increase the salaries of contract workers but also pay arrears with effect from April 1, 2014, the JAC leader demanded.
