COIMBATORE: Workers of the 108 emergency ambulance service petitioned the Coimbatore district administration on Monday pressing for their 11-point charter of demands. Their main demand is that the Tamil Nadu govt run the service directly and scrap the existing outsourcing model.The Tamil Nadu 108 Emergency Ambulance Workers’ Progressive Union said around 1,353 ambulances were operating across the state under the health programme, employing nearly 7,000 workers. It said repeated representations to the state govt and the ambulance service management had failed to yield a satisfactory response.Union district secretary M Guna demanded regularisation of the jobs of around 7,000 workers and implementation of a recent labour tribunal order that included a 25% wage hike for 2022-23 and subsequent years, payment of minimum bonus and reimbursement of legal expenses.Emphasising other demands, he said, “The state should implement an eight-hour, three-shift system without curtailing existing benefits, a 25% wage hike for 2026, one year of paid maternity leave and an increase in medical insurance coverage from ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh.”The workers have sought insurance compensation of ₹50 lakh in the event of an on-duty death and ₹30 lakh for an off-duty death. They demanded transparent biometric attendance, timely payment of full salaries and salary slips, an end to fixed-term employment and reinstatement of dismissed workers.The union said the demands were adopted at its general body meeting in Kancheepuram on Sept 15, followed by district-level protests on Sept 22. It warned that an indefinite strike would begin on Nov 4 if govt failed to address their demands.
