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Ludhiana: Seeking regularisation, MC’s sanitation workers go on strike
Around 800 sanitation workers, he claimed, had been working for over decade as contractual workers but in 2022 were denied regularisation citing their age
Sanitation workers of the Municipal Corporation (MC) went on a strike on Friday, halting all waste collection to demand the regularisation of contractual staff.
The strike included workers involved in collecting waste, contractual drivers, and gardeners.
Various workers’ unions protested outside the Municipal Corporation’s Zone A office. Vicky Sahota, state president, Rashtriya Safai Karamchari Mahasangh, claimed that around 3,000 workers had gathered at the protest.
The workers’ will return to work on Monday, he said.
They said hundreds of workers have been working on a contractual basis for years now but they haven’t been regularised yet.
“A contractual worker doesn’t have any job security and is paid around ₹10,000 per month. Workers keep working in the hope of being regularised and securing a stable job. A regularised worker gets over ₹16,000 per month and the remuneration is revised every few years,” said Sahota.
Around 800 sanitation workers, he claimed, had been working for over decade as contractual workers but in 2022 were denied regularisation citing their age. “In 2022 around 800 workers were told that they were ineligible for regularisation as they were now over 42 years. But these people got overage while working only. How is it fair to deny regularisation because of the administrations’ delay in regularisation?” he said.
He protested outsourcing of sanitation work to private companies. “The MC has outsourced waste collection and sanitation in 26 wards to address shortage of staff. Why don’t they hire sanitation workers instead of outsourcing, which actually costs more?” He claimed that one of the companies that was given the contract for waste collection was being paid ₹1200 per day for a worker. “What is the justification for this? Why are you paying more? And how is it fair for the contractual worker who gets only ₹300 per day for the same job?” he asked. They demanded a return to the old pension scheme. MC commissioner Dr Neeru Katyal Gupta said the matter had already been escalated to Chandigarh.
