Thiruvananthapuram: The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), who have been on an indefinite strike for the past 55 days, alleged on Saturday that the Congress-affiliated INTUC is betraying them by supporting the state government’s proposal to constitute a committee to examine their demands.

S Mini, Vice President of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA), told Manorama News that INTUC leader R. Chandrasekharan made a volte-face in favour of the state government during recent discussions with Health Minister Veena George. She alleged that the trade union leader had proposed the formation of the committee as a means to settle the protest.

She pointed out that INTUC, along with other trade unions invited for the talks, attempted to pressure the striking workers into accepting the proposal.

“We did not succumb to the pressure and rejected the proposal outright. We had suggested that the honorarium be increased to ₹21,000 from the present ₹7,000 in phases, starting with an immediate hike of ₹3,000 to end the protest. However, they were not willing to accept it,” Mini stated.

She insisted that the government must meet the ASHA workers' demands at any cost.

“The government’s proposal to form a committee for our wage hike is an anti-labour move. We will not agree to this,” she added.

The ASHA workers have been protesting in front of the state secretariat since February 10, demanding a wage hike and retirement benefits.

“The state government should take a decision on increasing our honorarium. No other state has formed a committee to decide on wage hikes. During the meeting, the INTUC leader opposed our demand,” said another ASHA worker.

The workers also accused INTUC of attempting to undermine their protest.

The third round of discussions between Kerala Health Minister Veena George and the ASHA workers failed to reach an agreement on Wednesday. The protesters refused to accept the government's proposal to form a panel to consider their demands and provide recommendations. Following this, the health minister announced that no further discussions would be held with the ASHA workers.

However, Chandrasekharan dismissed the allegations against him, calling them “lies.”

“INTUC has extended support to ASHA workers. As a trade union, we wanted to help resolve the strike. I was late to the meeting. It was the minister who proposed the formation of the committee to revise the ASHA workers’ honorarium — not me. Now, false allegations are being made against me,” said Chandrasekharan.

He added that the minister had assured the workers that the honorarium would be increased.

MA Bindu, General Secretary of KAHWA, said that they were not entirely opposed to the committee.

"The committee can be set up to study all the other issues faced by ASHA workers. However, we believe it is unnecessary to address our wage hike or retirement benefits," she said.

She clarified that the protestors do not wish to continue the agitation indefinitely — they only want a resolution.

“But to settle the matter, there has to be a concrete formula to address our demands. There was no discussion on that. Everyone was only focused on forming a committee, and the trade unions tried to pressure us into accepting it,” she said.

She reiterated that KAHWA is eager to resolve the issue, which is why they suggested an immediate hike of ₹3,000 in the honorarium, with a phased increase up to ₹21,000.