Dimapur Municipal Council Employees’ Welfare Union began a pen-down strike in protest against salaries pending for the last five months on September 2.
• Salaries 5 months overdue
• Employees pen-down strike
• Warns of total cease work
Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 2
The Dimapur Municipal Council employees have started yet another strike in protest against salaries pending for the last five months. While sanitation services were not affected, the Dimapur Municipal Council Employees’ Welfare Union (DMCEWU) began a pen-down strike on September 2. The employees from the establishment branch gathered at the new DMC office in Forest Colony warning of a total cease work agitation, including by the sanitation branch, from September 8 if pending dues are not cleared.
DMCEWU Vice President Abel Swu said that the primary grievances of the workers center on unpaid salaries and outstanding Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) contributions. Swu explained that employee salaries have remained unpaid for five complete months.
Although daily sanitation and waste disposal operations functioned as usual, Swu asserted that these services will be suspended if the DMC ignores their seven-day ultimatum.
“Our pending salaries are five months complete, and now the sixth month is running. Our demand is that by Monday (September 7), they must fulfill our demands. Otherwise, we will also stop sanitation (services),” Swu said.
The union recently held a meeting with the DMC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to discuss the outstanding EPF contributions. According to Swu, the CEO assured to clear the EPF dues as much as possible. However, he maintained that partial payments are insufficient given the size of the outstanding liabilities.
“The pending amount is quite large; it is not a small amount. If they fulfill it, we will call off the strike. Otherwise, our agitation will continue,” Swu reiterated.
The union has given the DMC until September 7 to resolve the issues. If no concrete actions are taken to settle both the pending salary and EPF liabilities, the indefinite strike will commence on September 8.
