Having received written assurances on some of their demands, workers of the 108 EMRI ambulance service called off their strike and resumed work today.
“We received a letter yesterday from the government where issues relating to our salary has been somewhat addressed, even though more needs to be streamlined because we deserve more than a minimum wage,” Meghalaya EMRI Workers Union publicity secretary Joseph Pyngrope told reporters today, adding that the letter also said that the workers’ other demands are under consideration.
The workers had been striking since January 3 in protest against their unfulfilled demands, which include ending the contract with the private GVK firm and assuring them of job security.
Based on the letter and request from the government to resume work given the arrival of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, MEMRIWU decided to resume work from 7pm today.
Although the union wants the state government to take over the service from GVK, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had, a few days ago, said that it is not his government’s intention to do so, rather, it would prefer to outsource it to another firm. The GVK contract will end on March 31.
“We will cooperate and also expect that GVK does its best until March 31 because this is an emergency service for the public. But after its tenure ends, we do not expect this service to remain under GVK,” Pyngrope stated.
