104 Employees' Strike From Wednesday

Contract employees of 104 Emergency Services on Tuesday served a strike notice to State Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi, stating that they would boycott their duties from Wednesday and until they get an assurance on the continuation of their jobs.

Talking to media persons after serving their strike notice at the Secretariat, 104 Call Centre Contract Employees' Union (HMRI) president Syed Arif said that after the 104 call centre was handed over to the Arogyasri Trust, the Trust wants to replace 1,000 employees with fresh recruits.

He said that although the contract employees have been staging protest rallies across the state, Arogyasri Trust did not heed to their request and has been going ahead with fresh recruitment.

He alleged that employees who have over 5 years of experience in handling emergency services were being ignored in the recruitments.

Arif said that the strike notice is the Union's last resort.

Employees of the 104 call centre are also demanding an increase in wages, a reduction their duty period, and the replacement of old vehicles.

With the 2,800 employees striking work from Wednesday, nearly 713 emergency service vehicles will go off the roads, causing plenty of inconvenience to those in need of emergency medical services. (INN)