Noon meal staff march for higher wages

After submitting a deputation to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, noon meal staff marched the streets of Kolkata on Tuesday, demanding higher wages and salaries. 

Beneath the banner of the Affiliation of Noon Meal Assistants (AMMA), over 100 noon meal staff marched from Sealdah to SN Banerjee Highway to Esplanade. These staff work from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and get solely about Rs. 10 per day. They get no additional advantages or bonuses as properly. 

IMAGE COURSE: TIMES OF INDIA

Employees mentioned they don’t even obtain two months’ salaries as a result of the faculties have summer time holidays and Durga Puja. They work all yr and receives a commission for less than 10 months. They are saying that if academics receives a commission throughout holidays, so ought to the employees. 

Some scholar leaders had been additionally a part of the march.

Earlier, there have been extra protests in Nadia and North 24 Parganas, however they yielded no optimistic outcomes. 

The wages of noon meal staff have remained the identical for the previous 10 years. The employees work in teams of 5 to 10 and are paid as a bunch by the faculties. They work all day and get naked wages. 

Not solely do the employees receives a commission as little as Rs. 1,500 per day, however additionally they obtain no different advantages. They don’t seem to be even registered as staff. They don’t have any recruitment proof, work with self-help teams, and attempt to put good diet on the plates of kids. 

These staff, principally girls, depart their youngsters behind and are available to work. Pregnant girls get no maternity depart, and in the event that they ask for depart, they’re ordered to not rejoin. 

The employees moreover demand that their salaries be deposited in their very own financial institution accounts as an alternative of the instructor’s or the panchayat’s. With so many middlemen, cash can typically be stolen, leading to decrease wages. 

90% of the noon meal staff are girls, principally single or widowed. 

To justify the poor pay, the federal government mentioned that it was as a result of the ‘honorary staff’ had been doing voluntary social work. 

The cook-cum-helpers obtain a month-to-month wage of Rs. 1000 for 10 months to arrange, serve meals at authorities faculties after which clear up afterwards. The rule for the noon meal scheme cited was that the individuals employed to work needs to be widows, individuals dwelling under the poverty line, the susceptible, and the marginalized. 

Sarcastically, the federal government calls them honorary staff when, in reality, they’re helpless.