Corporation workers protest outsourcing of jobs

Members of Madurai Corporation Employees’ Union, affiliated to Centre of Indian Trade Unions, staged a protest against outsourcing of employees in all departments. The agitators said that it would lead to privatisation of corporation’s major services.

Its general secretary M. Balasubramanian said that outsourcing was hitherto implemented partially in health and engineering departments. However, the State government was planning to implement outsourcing in a big way in solid waste management and in maintenance of drinking water schemes, underground drainage and street lights maintenance.

“This new initiative will mean that several workers who were under contract directly with the local bodies will lose their job,” he added.

Madurai Corporation has recently terminated the contract of 32 workers engaged in street light maintenance. “They had worked for 3 to 14 years,” Mr. Balasubramanian said.

Besides, the uniform conditions in number of workers to be in place and salary structure across the State would lead to retrenchment of staff. “The ground conditions in solid waste management and maintenance of other facilities differ based on population and infrastructure available. So, the uniform rule will led to higher work burden or lower wages for workers,” he added.

Mr. Balasubramanian appealed to the government to give up the move and regularise the services of those workers who were employed for 480 days of continuous employment.