TTD decision stirs hornets nest

Tirupati: The TTD Trust Board decision to hike the salary of contract and outsourcing employees stirred the hornet nest as it excluded the workers working under the Facility Management Services (FMS) and on contract basis from availing the benefit. Interestingly, even the beneficiaries i.e. the contract and outsourcing employees too are not happy with the TTD management declaring the hike as incentive and not a hike in the salary. 

It is pertinent to note that the FMS and contract workers constitute more than 50 per cent of the 14,000 employees working on temporary basis including contract, outsourcing, contract and FMS and are engaged mainly in the health and sanitation as well maintenance of complexes including pilgrim amenities complexes both at Tirumala and Tirupati down the hills.

In other words, these two categories of temporary staff though prone to health hazards, have been playing a crucial role in the pilgrim services like housekeeping, health and sanitation but were denied the long pending hike that was announced by TTD management following its trust board decision on Tuesday. 

TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal categorically denying the wage hike to FMS and contract employees drew flak from the employees’ union and the FMS providers too, who also criticised the TTD management for their partiality in hiking the wages to temporary staff. 

TTD Contract Employees Union (TTDCEU) general secretary T Subramanyam said it is sad that the TTD management instead of increasing the salary preferred to extend incentives grade wise to the contract and outsourcing employees and was very atrocious on the part of TTD excluding the FMS and contract workers doing hard work facing health risks for a meager amount. 

Speaking to media here on Wednesday, Subramanyam warned that the union would launch an agitation if the TTD failed to extend the hike to FMS and contract workers also and implement time scale to all the temporary staff as per the High Court direction. Criticising TTD EO for his unilateral decision of extending the wage increase selectively, he sought him to clarify under what rule or GO the decision was approved by the TTD. 

Meanwhile, CITU district general secretary and TTDCEU honorary president Kandarapu Murali strongly resent the TTD move to hike wages only to the contract and outsourcing employees and excluding the workers working under the FMS providers. 

FMS workers, the majority of who are women from vulnerable sections like SCs and STs working round the clock facing many odds including health hazard and harassments but were meted out a raw deal by the TTD though they deserve and in dire need of betterment of wages and working condition. He demanded the TTD to reconsider its decision so as to make the wage applicable to all the temporary staff including FMS and contract employees working in TTD. 

A FMS provider on condition of anonymity said that the TTD decision is unacceptable and erroneous as it failed to benefit the majority of the temporary staff. Before taking the decision, the TTD should have negotiated with the FMS providers on exploring the possibility of extending the benefit to FMS and contract employees, he said expressing the service providers’ readiness to transfer the entire amount of hike to the employees, if the TTD increase the wages on par with contract and outsourcing employees. 

Sources in TTD revealed that the TTD did not cover FMS and contract workers as it requires elaborate process of changing the agreement that TTD had already made with them and also involves legal issues.