Date:05/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/05/stories/2008080552820300.htm

Kerala

School cooks seek end to harassment

Staff Reporter

MALAPPURAM: The Kerala State School Cooking Workers Confederation has raised a banner of protest against the alleged exploitation by certain officials of the Education Department. Pointing out instances, the confederation demanded stringent action against such “tormentors.”

State president of the confederation Haridas Pulpetta said here on Monday that education officials had turned a blind eye on the confederation’s repeated pleas to end harassment of workers. Mr. Pulpetta said the government had failed to conduct an inquiry into the charges of harassment or to provide better work environment. He said certain educational officers and headmasters were harassing the workers by threatening to get them sacked.

The confederation also criticised the staff organizations that had come in support of the education officials and headmasters in harassing the cooking workers.

The confederation has threatened to launch a hunger strike in front of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s house in Thiruvananthapuram if the fovernment failed to address the woes of its members.