TN: Fair Price Shop Cooperative Workers Assured DA Hike on par With State Govt Employees

After three months of struggle, workers of Tamil Nadu fair price shop cooperatives have been promised dearness allowance (DA) in line with the recent wage revisions made for state government employees. R Sakkarapani,  Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department Minister, gave this assurance to the leaders of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Society Workers Association on April 8. The government order is yet to be passed.

The minister also announced that the bonus increments that were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be resumed.

From January 1, 2022 the DA was increased from 17% to 31% for Tamil Nadu government employees and pensioners, as recommended by the 7th Pay Revision Commission. It resulted in more than 82% increase benefitting 17 lakh employees.

However, 23,000 workers in the public distribution system (PDS) cooperatives across the state were not incorporated in the DA hike. Although workers of other large state cooperatives societies, such as primary agriculture cooperative society and marketing societies, were given the hike.

O Panneerselvam, deputy leader of Opposition in the state and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Co-ordinator, had also urged the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to increase the DA for persons working in fair price shops.

PLIGHT OF PDS OUTLET WORKERS

I Periyasamy, Minister for Co-operatives, had warned cooperative department staff and salespersons at PDS outlets last week of stringent departmental and disciplinary action if they were found indulging in unethical practices.

The workers union of the state cooperative societies, affiliated to Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU), however, said that some workers were being forced into engaging in unethical practices because the state does not ensure proper facilities, decent pay and sufficient human resource.

Krishnamoorthy, state secretary of the union, said 

“There are around 20,000 salespersons, but only 3,000 packers working in fair price shops across Tamil Nadu. Wherever there are no packers, the work of unloading and packing is expected to be carried out by the salesperson. How is it possible? How can the salesperson simultaneously do billing and packing? So, the salesperson hires a person to carry out the task and has to pay out of their pockets for the same”, said Krishnamoorthy, secretary of the union.

Fair price shops usually have a long queue of customers awaiting purchase, and even if a salesperson can do both billing and packing, it would make the waiting time longer.

Women workers in a fair price shop. Image courtesy: Theekkathir

Krishnamoorthy further said that “many of the salespersons are women, and persons with disabilities are also encouraged to take up the work. How can they be expected to lift heavy things? Moreover, they are not hired for that task”.

On top of this, the government does not provide for the loss of grains during loading and unloading, it is borne by the workers, he added.

SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS

The primary accusation on workers in fair price shops is that they tamper with the weights and reduce the quantity of rice, sugar and other goods. Krishnamoorhty said: “In jest, people say that “a ration shop worker’s child is born underweight”''.

In response to this accusation, the food and civil supplies department is considering introducing a ‘packet system’, where all the goods are weighed according to set measurements and packed in advance.

The Union of Cooperative Societies is also supporting the packet system because it would reduce the load on workers in fair price shops.

Recently, the civil supplies department also declared that shop supervisors were responsible for the poor quality of rice supplied in ration outlets. In response, the workers demanded that the cooperative department must ensure the quality of rice and should not make supervisors responsible for it.

However, workers want more holistic solutions to the problems in the PDS. They are urging the state government to incorporate the cooperative societies into the public sector, and also form a separate department for public distribution. 

Incidentally, forming a separate department is also part of the ruling DMK’s electoral promise. Point 236 of the party’s manifesto reads: “Ration shops that are under the control of several departments will be brought under a single department”.

The cooperative societies union is pushing for increased pay for workers, introduction of a packet system and forming a separate department for PDS to ease the burden on the workers. However, it is ultimately demanding incorporation of the societies into the public sector and making the existing workers state government employees.

There are a total of 35,169 civil supplies shops, 9,580 are part-time shops and 25,589 are full-time. This is besides the mobile ration shops in the state.