Tasmac staff on week-long protest seeking safety gear

The corporation has 6,913 shop supervisors, 15,347 salesmen and 3,437 assistant salesmen working in retail stores on contract and consolidated pay basis. Tamil Nadu Government Tasmac Workers Association president AD Balusamy told DT Next that after the shops reopened, the pandemic situation has become worse especially in other districts. “Many salesmen and supervisors were infected, and some have even succumbed to it,” he claimed. Salesmen were more prone to get infected as they deal with thousands of consumers every day, Balusamy said, alleging that the government failed to ensure the safety of the staff. “The employees were not provided sanitisers and facemasks, and they had to buy them with their own money,” he added. “On Tuesday, more than 20,000 employees participated in the protest and it would continue till August 3,” he said, adding that the protest would be intensified if the government failed to consider their demands.

According to him, the other demands include providing special pay, reducing sales time to 5 pm and supplying adequate medical kits to protect the employees from contracting the virus while at work.