Civic employees in Mumbai on strike

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation staff, owing allegiance to the Municipal Mazdoor Union led by Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Rao, went on a strike on Tuesday demanding salaries on the lines of the sixth pay commission. Civic employees who have joined the strike include those involved in jobs such as garbage collection, dousing fires, monitoring water supply and working in civic hospitals.

The strike called by Sharad Rao led Municipal Mazdoor Union - the most dominant labour union in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, with 70,000 employees enrolled as it members.

However, Shiv Sena's Municipal Karmachari Kamgar Sena led by Baba Kadam is not participating in the agitation. Rao blamed municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar for instigating the strike and said he would negotiate only with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and executive president of Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray.

The total employee headcount of the Mumbai civic body is 1,10,000 and authorities cannot afford to ignore Rao's strike call.

Chief Secretary of Maharashtra Ratnakar Gaikwad, who has termed the strike as illegal, had summoned a meeting of civic and police officials to prepare a contingency plan to deal with the strike. Gaikwad, who in his past, had served in MCGM as additional municipal commissioner has had first hand experience of MMU's pressure tactics through strikes.

Gaikwad said that strict action will be taken against those who attack or intimidate any employee who turns up for work.

With inputs from PTI