Mid-day meal workers in Himachal Pradesh will stage a protest in Shimla in November over their demands, including the grant of employee status, so that they too can avail of benefits that government employees do, activists said Sunday.
The state and central governments are not serious about the demands of the mid-day meal workers in the country, Jagat Ram, state president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), told IANS.
CITU is affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which backs the demands of the mid-day meal workers.
Jagat Ram said that a two-day conference of state mid-day workers in Mandi, which concluded Sunday, decided that a protest would be staged in the state capital Nov 12.
"They will also stage a protest outside Parliament House in New Delhi Dec 12," he said.
The state has over 27,000 mid-day workers engaged at in 12,571 primary and middle schools.
Kanta Mahant, president of the Mid-Day Meal Workers Union, said workers are demanding minimum wages of Rs.4,500 per month, besides time-bound promotions and leave benefits.
She said the workers are at present getting a meagre salary of just Rs.1,000 per month.
