Tipplers had better stock up on their liquor stashes as employees of the state’s biggest money grosser, Tasmac, have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from August 16, to protest against the suspension of 392 colleagues from different parts of the state.
The 392 men employed at Tasmac outlets in different districts, including Chennai, were suspended on July 14 for allegedly charging customers more than the MRP.
On Tuesday, at least 500 members of the Tasmac employees union (AITUC) held an agitation in the city, protesting against their poor paymasters.
“Tasmac makes an annual revenue of nearly `20,000 crore, and they cannot afford to give us decent salaries? A supervisor at a wine shop is paid `5,000 per month, a salesman receives only Rs3,600 and an assistant salesman, `2,700,” said a Tasmac employee who participated in the agitation.
Though the Kerala government makes only `6,000 crore annually from their 384 wine shops, they pay their employees generously — supervisors take home a paycheck of `22,000 and a salesman receives Rs17,000.
Working at Tamil Nadu’s richest PSU has no perks either. “At all the other PSUs, be it Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Poompuhar Handicrafts Development Corporation, Transport or Rubber Corporation, employees are given annual bonus as well as a share of the profit, small as it may be. At Tasmac, we have terrible working conditions, and get paid such poor salaries,” he added.
The AITUC also refused to accept the government’s warning (through a circular) that any employee who charged a customer even `1 over the MRP , would be suspended.
“We are forced to charge the customers more, to make ends meet, to feed our families. When the alcohol is brought in trucks from the depot to the outlet, we pay the labourers who unload the boxes, from our own pockets. We also have to pay for any damages while transportation,” said D. Dhanasekaran, general secretary of the AITUC.
The organisation on Tuesday passed a resolution to begin an indefinite strike from August 16 ( August 15 is a holiday for Tasmac), if Tasmac does not meet their demands for better salaries and revoke the suspension of the 392 employees.