Mumbai Schools Sports Association employees up in arms after sports body holds back Dearness Allowance; MSSA in response insists they won't budge
MSSA employees Rakesh Gaud (left), Anthony D’Souza, Jayesh Parmar and Dattatray Tambadkar (right) protest outside the city sports body’s office at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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Four Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) employees — Anthony D’Souza (junior clerk), Dattatray Tambadkar (junior clerk), Jayesh Parmar (peon) and Rakesh Gaud (grounsman) – resorted to wearing black bands on their arms and mouths yesterday to protest non-payment of dues by school body.
“We have had more than 17 to 18 meetings with the MSSA officials in this matter. In 2015, when we went on hunger strike, they promised us to fulfill the Supreme Court verdict which ruled that we should get 50 per cent arrears according to the fifth pay commission. But they gave us only the salary increment due to us from 2008 to 2011 and the money earned through working on holidays – (D’Souza, Rs 59,855, Tambadkar Rs 60,755, Parmar Rs 44,540 and Gaud Rs 54,714).
We are not asking the MSSA to give us salaries according to the fifth or sixth pay commission. All we are asking from them are arrears according to the GR (Government Resolution) which is 125% of our basic pay, but we are being getting only 54%,” Tambadkar told mid-day yesterday.
Meanwhile, Parmar, said that instead of giving them their dues, the 125-year-old school has avoided them for 19 months.
“We are working for this organisation for more than two decades. From the time Fr Jude Rodrigues took charge as president in 2012, our Dearness Allowance (DA) and annual increments were stopped. We are just being harassed every now and then. We are ending up spending sizeable amounts on legal fees to get back our own money which we are entitled to. In 2015, they promised us to pay out the arrears. It’s two years now for that promise and they manage to ignore us. They are now saying we are not entitled to any dues,” remarked Parmar.
Yesterday, the four MSSA employees were shocked to receive a letter from the school body who said they are not entitled to dues as MSSA comes under the Shops and Establishment act. On their official website, MSSA calls itself, ‘an NGO, which is purely a sports organisation, non commercial and runs on no profit basis.’
MSSA Hon general secretary Esmero Figueiredo wrote: “Despite making it clear from time to time that MSSA is neither a government body nor a semi-government body and pay commissions are not applicable to us, demands are being made on the said basis. We deny that you were getting DA arrears regularly as alleged. You were aware that benefits of the fifth pay commission were paid because of the specific letter issued by the association agreeing to pay. Thereafter, association is registered under shops and establishment act and wages as per said act is payable and as you are drawing more than payable under the act. You are informed that no DA as per any pay commission is payable as claimed and therefore, we are unable to accede to your request made in the said letter. We hope that you would not indulge in any pressure tactics adopted in the past lest we shall be forced to take strict view of the matter at your cost.”
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