While the staff of all local bodies in Kerala have been included in the public service category, cleaning workers are left in the lurch to wonder why they have been excluded from the list.
It was only a couple of days ago that the Chief Minister announced that staff of local bodies will now be part of public service, which makes them eligible for the benefits enjoyed by public servants across the State. However, cleaning workers who come under the health wing of municipalities and corporations have been left out of the list.
“Cleaning workers in municipalities and corporations are no longer the illiterate working class they used to be a few decades ago. Now, we have even graduates and postgraduates among them, who have been forced to take up this job due to the rising unemployment rate,” said Kozhikode district president of Kerala Municipal and Corporation Workers’ Congress K. Shaji, adding that they are to continue doing the same job throughout their life and had no opportunities for promotion or better placement based on their qualifications while working under local bodies.
At present, cleaning workers are appointed through the Employment Exchange by local bodies. They get benefits such as Provident Fund and pensions, but not to the scale of what their counterparts in other departments or even boards get. In the event of death while in service, their dependants are eligible for jobs in local bodies based on their educational qualification.
Being excluded from public service, workers are also apprehensive about the continuation of their existing benefits.
If absorbed to public service, cleaning workers will be able to get promotions and better placements, besides benefits on par with their counterparts in other departments, and jobs for dependants. “There are no real service rules that govern cleaning workers under local bodies. Coming under public service will ensure that there are proper guidelines regarding their service, especially those concerning salary,” Mr. Shaji pointed out.
On the other hand, workers under some of the trade unions are reluctant to demand for their right, fearing that coming under public service will make them open to transfers across the State and will have to leave their family behind. However, INTUC has launched a protest across the State demanding cleaning workers their rightful place in the public service.
