Employees on the rolls of The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Ltd., (TASMAC) have expressed concern about their jobs and said that the salary increase announced by the State government does not mean much to them.
“Rather than announcing hikes, the government should have come out with a long-term strategy if all liquor shops were closed in the State,” said a TASMAC salesman who works at an outlet in Royapettah.
Earlier this week, Prohibition and Excise Minister P Thangamani announced in the State Assembly that salaries of supervisors, salesmen and assistant salesmen would be hiked by Rs. 500, Rs. 400 and Rs. 300 (per month) respectively. According to a Tasmac Union member, a supervisor at present earns Rs. 7,000 a month, while salesmen and assistant salesmen take home Rs. 5,200 and Rs. 3,900 respectively. A supervisor who works at a TASMAC shop in Anna Nagar, said, “The Chief Minister has given a firm commitment to wind up all shops in a phased manner. So they should slowly start accommodating eligible staff from here in other government departments in a phased manner. Tasmac has more than 25,000 employees so there should no be last minute alarm bell for us,” he said.
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As on June 30, 2016, TASMAC has 7,204 shop supervisors, 15,677 salesmen and 3,753 assistant salesmen working in the retail vending shops on contract/consolidated pay basis. Tasmac had suspended operations of 500 retail vending shops from June 19, 2016.
Say salary hike announced in Assembly does not mean much as govt. has promised to close all shops