Tamil Nadu: Teachers protest demanding ‘equal pay for equal work’
During the protest, SSTA members alleged that DMK, during the election campaign in 2021, promised to fulfil the demand, but it has been kept pending;
Members of the Secondary Grade Seniority Teacher’s Association protesting in Egmore
CHENNAI: Members of Secondary Grade Seniority Teacher’s Association (SSTA) staged a protest here on Saturday urging the DMK government to fulfil the long-pending demand of ‘equal pay for equal work’.
During the protest, SSTA members alleged that DMK, during the election campaign in 2021, promised to fulfil the demand, but it has been kept pending.
It’s noteworthy, however, that the protest for equal pay and equal work is not a recent one. Members have been requesting to fulfil the demands for around 15 years. Protesters said that though Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi had promised action on the demands, nothing has been done yet.
For the past 14 years, nearly 20,000 SGTs have been requesting both the AIADMK and DMK governments to address the pay disparity teachers face. Those teachers appointed after June 2009 are paid Rs 3,170 for the same amount of work than those appointed on or before May 31, 2009. They also claim that in December 2022, teachers were severely affected by the seventh pay commission as the pay gap further widened.
"Despite several years and multiple committees formed to address the demands kept, we’ve not received any resolutions. While the State government has allotted a large budget for education, the rights of teachers by and large remain as such demands,” said a senior faculty protesting in the city.
“We’ve seen around five committees formed to address the demands of SGTs. Though CM Stalin assured that the recent committee will submit its report in 3 months, we’re yet to hear anything about it,” fumed a member.