Shillong, Dec. 9: Over 900 Meghalaya Secretariat staff came to work today wearing black badges as they began a three-day protest for higher scales of pay for Secretariat Subordinate Service (SSS) employees.

The SSS covers lower division assistants (LDA), upper division assistants (UDA) and assistant superintendents (AS).

The employees, led by the Meghalaya Secretariat Service Association (MMSA), were also protesting issues over implementing access control system (ACS) machines.

Alleging disparity in the scales of pay, the association said pay for the posts under the Meghalaya Subordinate Treasury Accounts Service had already been hiked.

The association said according to the revised pay of employees of the Meghalaya Subordinate Treasury Accounts Service, an accountant will draw a salary of Rs 15,700-Rs 30,610, a senior accounts assistant will draw Rs 14,700-Rs 28,760 for and a junior accounts assistant will get Rs 14,100-Rs 27,510.

But the salaries of employees working in the secretariat have not been revised since 2009 and a lower division assistant gets Rs 11,300-Rs 22,000, an upper division assistant draws Rs 14,100-Rs 27,510 and an assistant superintendents gets Rs 15,700-Rs 30,610.

The demanded is to raise the scales of pay to Rs 16,300-Rs 31,860 for AS, Rs 15,700-Rs 30,610 for UDA and Rs 14,700-Rs 28,760 for LDA.

"The scales of pay for the posts under the Meghalaya Secretariat Subordinate Service are down-to-earth, more than justified and very much commensurate to the status, job content and responsibilities of the respective posts in assisting the administrators in running smoothly the wheels of administration in all the administrative departments of the government," the association said.

They also alleged that the finance department had blatantly "discriminated and undermined" the status of the Meghalaya Secretariat Services and demanded immediate redressal of the issue.

"The staff in the first two categories (LDA and UDA) have to undergo rigorous compulsory in-service training and one has to put in a minimum of 12 to 14 years of service for promotion from LDA to the post of UDA and from UPDA to the post of AS," an association member said.

The association urged the state government to consider the enhancement with effect from the July 1, 2014, the date when the posts under the Meghalaya Subordinate Treasury Accounts Service had been "blessed" with upgraded scales of pay, for the sake of justice.

On the implementation of ACS machines, the Secretariat staff demanded that this system be made applicable in all government offices and not applied only for the staff in the Secretariat.