A massive rally was organized by the ICCW Employees Union at Bal Bhawan Sector 23 to protest against the decision of the ICCW Employees Union to run Anganwadi and Crèche together. Employees working in different unions belonging to the Federation of UT Employees and Workers, Chandigarh, also participated in the rally in large numbers.
ICC.W Union President Rekha Sharma, Vice President Sunita Sharma, Rekha Gora, Lakhwinder Kaur, General Secretary Bihari Lal, Federation of UT Employees and Workers Chandigarh President Raghbir Chand, Vice President Rajendra Katoch, General Secretary Gopal Dutt Joshi, MC Horticulture Union President Harkesh Chand, General Secretary Subhamanyam, Chairman of MC Road Workers Union M Rajindran, President Toplan Prempal, President of MC Public Health Harpal Singh, Naseeb Singh, President of UT Powerman Union Dhyan Singh, Deputy President Gurmeet Singh, etc., while addressing, said that there is a world of difference between the working of a crèche and Anganwadi.
Under no circumstances can a crèche be compared with an Anganwadi because the crèche timings are from 8:30 am to 5:45 pm, and the age of the children coming to the crèche is from 6 months to 12 years. They are taking full-time employee pay scale and DC rate, whereas the timings of Anganwadi are from 9 am to 3 pm. He is working as a scheme worker.
The crèche staff were doing all the work of the crèche, along with the administration; the other works of Anganwadi were making maternity cards and giving protein to pregnant women, filling the widow, old age, and disabled pension forms and submitting them in the office, distributing dry ration to the children, and keeping all records.
It includes giving information about the schemes run by the Social Welfare Department, etc. It is very surprising that the administration reduced the salary of the employees to Rs 5500 and Rs 3000, but apart from the important responsibility of taking care of the children, the burden of the above-mentioned work in Anganwadi is also forcibly imposed on them, and the employees are being treated like bonded laborers.
The administration is making big claims of running crèche and Anganwadi together, but the truth is that where the helper goes on leave, the helper is not even being given there. Due to a lack of helpers, parents and children are facing a lot of problems, but no official is ready to listen. To highlight the anti-employee attitude being adopted by the administration and to express their anger, an effigy of the administration was burnt. In the rally, an appeal was made to all the employees to go on a complete strike on 16 February 2024.