Karimnagar hospital contract workers on flash strike to demand pending salary for last two months

KARIMNAGAR: Contract employees of Karimnagar government hospital staged a flash strike on Tuesday demanding payment of pending salaries for the last two months. There are around 260 employees working on a contract basis in the hospital who draw a salary of around Rs 10,500 and have not received wages for the last two months.

Heading the protest, Bandari Shekhar, honorary president, Karimnagar Government Hospital Workers and Employees Union, said, "Today we staged a flash strike next to the hospital to demand payment of salaries for the last two months. As per Government Order (GO) number 306, every contract employee should receive salary of Rs 16,000. But here, employees have only been receiving Rs 10,500. Similarly, Employee Provident Fund (PF) of Rs 800 is being made while the employer and employee contribution should be Rs 3,000.

"It is not just staff here, Government hospital staff in Huzurabad too have not received salaries for the last four months. The workers are facing severe difficulties as they are unable to pay house rent, groceries, etc. This is unfair as the staff attend duty regularly," he added

The employees shared that the contractor has been blaming the Government for not releasing budget which has resulted in delay in payment of salaries.

"If we ask for wages, the contractor says that the State Government had not released the budget since July 2023. The new Congress Government too has not allocated budget yet. They should immediately sanction the budget. If our demands are not met, we will organise a mass protest in front of Telangana health department commissioner in Hyderabad in less than a month," Shekhar said.

Among other demands, the workers sought two pairs of uniforms for each worker, name tags and recognition as full-time employees.