JOIN USThe non-teaching workers of Bangalore University (BU) observed a ‘demands day’ on Friday, seeking salaries as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) scales.
The workers sported black bands and raised slogans on the Jnanabharati campus, demanding a significant increase in their salaries, as recommended by the UGC-appointed Prof G K Chadha Committee.
According to Vijayaraj H, General Secretary of the Karnataka State Universities’ Non-teaching Employees’ Association, the salaries of university teachers had been increased by “as much as 150 per cent”, but those of non-teaching workers were not.
The UGC, however, says on its website that the hike recommended was between 70 and 85 per cent.
“When teachers were given a hefty pay hike, why deprive us? Instead of giving us our due, the State government is trying to bracket us along with its own employees under the 6th Pay Commission,” Vijayaraj said.
“We had made a representation to the Minister for Higher Education, the late V S Acharya, on January 20, but there was no response,” Vijayaraj added.
Demands
A memorandum, addressed to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, lists a host of demands: Appointment of an IAS/KAS officer instead of university teachers to the post of registrar (Administration/Evaluation), representation to non-teaching workers in the university’s Syndicate and Academic Council, promoting employees to the vacant posts, reserving seats for them in the undergraduate/postgraduate departments, regularising services of the daily wage workers, and providing accommodation to woman employees in the university premises.