Goa lifeguards might go on strike from coming week

Lifeguards across Goa beaches might go on a strike from coming week onwards "as government has failed to provide them relief which was assured in the past by the state tourism minister and labour minister", their union leader said here today.
"The decision on indefinite strike by lifeguards pressing for various demands would be taken tomorrow during Workers' Day (May one)," All India Trade Union Congress' State Secretary Suhas Naik told PTI here.
Lifeguards are likely to strike from coming week as government has failed to provide them relief which was assured in the past by State Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar and Labour Minister Avertano Furtado, he said.

The lifeguards are contracted to Drishti Lifesaving Services, a company which has won state government's bid to man beaches and make them drowning free.
The company (Drishti) had approached the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court recently seeking to pass an order staying any attempt of strike by lifeguards, who are covered under Essential Services Management Act.
The court had refused to pass any order while dismissing the petition.

The lifeguards had struck work between December 29, 2015 to January 13, 2016.
The strike was withdrawn following assurance by Parulekar and Furtado to fulfill all demands of the workers.
The workers were demanding hike in pay scales and also regularisation in their services.

State Tourism Department which was also a respondent in the petition had told the court in an affidavit that "the intervention of the minister(s) on behalfof the state government was to arrive at an amicable settlement between the petitioner (Drishti) and the workmen."
"The minister has (had) gone out of the way in order to facilitate the dispute between the petitioner and the workmen so that the tourism in the state of Goa does not suffer," the affidavit sworn in by State tourism Director Sanjiv Gauns Desai has stated.
Desai had told the court that the minister's intervention was only in the larger public interest so that the life of tourists who go to the beaches for bathing would be protected.