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Chandigarh: Centre clears ₹30 crore for PGI outsourced workers’ arrears
The payment aims to bring the outsourced workers’ wages on par with those of lowest-paid regular workers, in line with notifications from 2018 and 2023 ensuing from a court case
Meeting the long-pending demand of PGIMER’s outsourced housekeeping workers, the Union ministry of finance has approved ₹30 crore for their arrears.
While the clearance came ahead of Diwali, the disbursement of arrears may take another couple of days.
The payment aims to bring the outsourced workers’ wages on par with those of lowest-paid regular workers, in line with notifications from 2018 and 2023 ensuing from a court case.
On April 19, 2024, the central government had sanctioned ₹ 46 crore for various contract labour roles, including sanitary attendants, kitchen staff and security guards. But around 1,600 housekeeping workers, also known as hospital attendants, were left out.
Vexed by this, the hospital attendants had gone on strike on October 10. Supported by over 3,000 contractual workers as well, they had remained on strike for a week until October 17, severely disrupting patient management and sanitation services.
Meanwhile, demanding release of the arrears and an annual bonus, as provided to regular workers, the outsourced workers staged a protest outside the administrative Kairon Block on Wednesday.
Waving black flags and raising slogans against the administration, around 150-200 workers joined the protest, which did not disrupt hospital operations much.
Despite learning about central government’s approval of ₹30 crore for their arrears, workers expressed dissatisfaction, stating that it will only address arrears and not their demand for a bonus.
Later, a PGIMER spokesperson said an order had been issued to disburse a token amount of ₹10,000 to each eligible outsourced hospital attendant, adding that the release of bonus was also in the works.
PGIMER’s senior administrative officer issued instructions to compile names of protesters for potential withholding of wages as well as disciplinary action in line with an October 16 high court order that had said pendency of any service dispute cannot become cause for an employee to abstain from work in a hospital, which was an essential service.
