108 ambulance service staff demand 8.33% Diwali bonus

COIMBATORE: As many as 43 employees of the 108 ambulance service in the city protested in front of Red Cross on Tuesday morning demanding 8.33% of their annual income as Diwali bonus. The employees also demanded a reduction in the shift duration and scrapping of mandatory transfers.
The 43 employees including a woman protested from 10.30am to 11.30am. "Our foremost demand is to be paid 8.33% of our annual income for Diwali every year.I have been working for eight years here and so far we have never been paid a bonus for Diwali," said the district president of 108 Ambulance Workers' Welfare Association, P Sivasamy.
When asked about the basis for demanding 8.33% of the annual income, Sivasamy said, "The 8.33% of the annual income amounts to a month's salary. This is what many companies give as bonus to their employees." Sivasamy said he earns 11,300 per month.
Another demand is to reduce the duration of their shifts from 12 to 8 hours. "We don't get compensated for overtime either in the form of a holiday or additional wages. And, the 12-hour shift is tiring for those living in far-off places," said the district secretary of the association T Bhagyaraj.
"Until last year we were allowed to encash 15 days personal leave every year. The company has scrapped this too," said Bhagyaraj. The only compensation that the 108 ambulance services employees get is a fixed 4,800 per year in the form of remuneration.
The employees demanded that mandatory transfers also be scrapped.
"It is difficult for us to cope with the sudden transfers that they make. And there is no fixed schedule for these transfers," said Sivasamy.