Mumbai University union to start ‘rule to work’ agitation

The Mumbai Vidyapeeth Karmachari Sangh has started the ‘work to rule’ agitation from Wednesday after talks with University of Mumbai (MU) authorities on their demands failed to reach a conclusive solution. The employees will work only for the stipulated hours and will not do overtime or extra work. With university exams set to start soon, the agitation will put a spanner in the functioning of the university.

Rupesh Malusare, general secretary, MVKS, said that the union had started the agitation in January. “The union had demanded payment of provident fund of 88 retired employees and starting the pension of 33 employees since the past two years. We also demanded promotion to 60 existing employees that have been pending since the past three years. After the university authorities assured us of addressing the issues, we had deferred the agitation,” said Mr Malusare.

Mr Malusare further added that after a gap of nearly a month and a half, the MU authorities finally met the union representatives on Wednesday. “The meeting was a failure as the authorities did not take any concrete decision towards fulfilling the demands following which the union restarted the ‘work to rule’ agitation,” said Mr Malusare.

“The university is not neglectful of their problems and have given the union an assurance in writing that most of their demands will be fulfilled,” said Dr M.A. Khan, registrar, MU.