The All Meghalaya SSA Non Teaching Staffs Association (AMSSANTSA) expressed satisfaction after meeting with a senior civil servant today concerning their case for a pay rise but their agitation will continue until the state government provides a written assurance that their demands will be met.
AMSSANTSA met with Commissioner and Secretary of the Education Department Vijay Mantri here. The staff have been agitating for an 80 per cent pay rise while the government was only willing at first to agree to 25 per cent. This and other issues will be studied by a ‘rationalisation’ committee formed with government and AMSSANTSA members.
“Improvement has been there since the last time we met. We got our chance to present ourselves and we stick to the terms and conditions which are under the notification,” Jennyfer J Synrem, president of the association, said.
Synrem also informed that the officials of the Education Department had contacted the Union Ministry of Education regarding the matter and also discussed the funding pattern.
The SSA scheme is in the pattern of 90:10, wherein the central government funds 90 per cent and the state the remaining 10 per cent.
She said that the association’s demand of a flat 80 per cent increase in salary after gap analysis was done for different levels at the cluster, block, district and state.
“Some variations were there with huge gaps. If we go by 80 per cent, some of us will be getting Rs 80,000 and some will get only Rs 8,000 which is not justified at all,” Synrem said.
She reiterated that they will have to work on the gap analysis and the issue has been long pending and the government will try to rationalise this time.
The association’s president also said that they will not accept the 25 per cent increase in salary as indicated by the government earlier.
The association’s original demand is 80 per cent salary enhancement plus 2 per cent based on seniority and 5 per cent annual increment.
More than 1,200 non-teaching staff under the SSA are staging an indefinite sit-in-demonstration at Malki Ground after rejecting the state government’s 25 per cent offer.
