Contract employees of VMC stage protest demanding entire day off on Sundays

VMC contract employees demand Sunday off; threaten indefinite strike if not met. 4,000 APCOS-registered workers have been protesting for years, submitting requests & memorandums to VMC Commissioner. Protestors met Chief Medical & Health Officer & submitted memorandum again. Strike from Oct 9 if demand not met.

Contract employees, registered under the Andhra Pradesh Corporation of Outsourced Services (APCOS) and working with the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, staged a protest outside the corporation office on Saturday demanding an entire day off on Sundays.

The employees said they had been protesting for many years now, and that they submitted many requests and memorandums to the VMC Commissioner Swapnil Dinkar Pundkar on the issue.

Municipal Workers’ Union president D. Kasinath said 4,000 employees, registered under APCOS, were working with the corporation in the city. “In July, municipal workers staged a State-wide protest demanding the same. We were given assurances that our demands will be met. But none of the assurances has been fulfilled yet,” Mr. Kasinath said.

The protesters met the Chief Medical and Health Officer in the VMC office and submitted a memorandum again. The workers said they would launch an indefinite strike from October 9 if their demand was not met.