Disagreement between owners and employees over pay revision continues to hamper houseboat operations in the district. On Thursday, several houseboats suspended operations after a section of employees prevented tourists from entering boats. The employees demanded immediate implementation of the new wage structure.
The police said that the issue had led to a minor altercation between houseboat owners and employees at Punnamada. According to the All Kerala Houseboat Owners Associations, only 20% of the houseboats conducted operations.
Unions representing houseboat employees and owners have been at loggerheads for some time now. The employees had initially demanded a basic salary of ₹15,000 and daily allowance of ₹374. After several rounds of talks and threats of an indefinite strike from May 10, the unions, on May 9, had reached an agreement with a section of houseboat owners on pay hike.
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Revised pay structure
As per the agreement with the Kerala Houseboat Owners Federation, an employee was entitled to a salary of ₹12,000, an increase of ₹1,600 from the present ₹10,400. The daily allowance was increased to ₹290, from the present ₹250. However, a large number of houseboat owners are yet to accept the pay increase.
Earlier this week, a section of houseboat owners under five owner outfits had staged an indefinite strike demanding an amicable settlement to the issue of renewing the contract of employees. They called off their stir on Tuesday following an intervention made by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran. Mr. Surendran promised to convene a meeting of owners and employees before June 10 to end the impasse over the pay structure revision.
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