Houseboat staff stir unresolved

Alappuzha: Alappuzha district collector N. Padmakumar directed district labour officer to hold a meeting with  house boat employees and owners to settle the wage issues after the meeting convened by him failed to resolve  the delicate issue. 

The decision came following a section of workers and houseboat owners refusing to accept  the pact made by House Boat and Resort Workers Union (CITU) along with All Kerala Houseboat Owners Association (AKHOA) last year.

The special committee constituted by the state government to solve the wage problems deployed Alappuzha district labour officer to hold a meeting with the house boat owners and  employees to settle the issue last November.

According to N. Sreekumar, General Secretary, AKHOA, the problem  was  being created by small association having no boats and employees.

The agreement was put forward by the largest association in the industry with House Boat and Resort Workers Union (CITU), which is the main workers union, he said.  The houseboat employees demanded a fixed monthly salary of a minimum Rs 12,000.

Presently, a houseboat worker earns Rs 8500 per month. “How we can live on  this salary  with the soaring  prices of essential goods? So we demanded a salary hike and  job protection,” said P.K. Sajeev Kumar, General Secretary of workers union. 

The special committee was set up by tourism minister A.P. Anilkumar on September 18 after an indefinite strike by the Kerala House Boat and Resort Workers Union. The strike was called off on September 18 after assurances from  Anilkumar.