Sanitary workers affiliated with the Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI) staged a protest for the fourth consecutive day at the Tondiarpet zonal office in Chennai on Sunday, demanding that the state government address their long-pending grievances, including regularisation of employment, as reported in The New Indian Express.
Police detained around 80 workers who participated in the protest. According to a police officer, the detained workers were taken in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses to nearby wedding halls and were released at around 8.15 pm.
A senior police officer said that no First Information Report (FIR) had been registered in connection with the protest so far. The police were expected to seek legal opinion before deciding whether any cases should be filed.
The protesting workers have been seeking regularisation of their employment, an increase in their daily wage to ₹832, a weekly paid day off and maternity leave benefits.
The union has also demanded the immediate reinstatement of 13 workers who were allegedly left out of a group of 1,400 workers whom the Greater Chennai Corporation had assured the Madras High Court last year would be taken back into service.
In addition, the workers have sought basic facilities at their workplaces.
UUI said it had organised a signature campaign in support of the workers’ demands. According to the union, state secretaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India and CPI (Marxist-Leninist), among others, had signed the petition.
UUI president K Bharathi said the union wanted to meet Municipal Administration Minister and Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and submit the signatures collected during the campaign. The union said it was seeking the government’s intervention to resolve the workers’ demands.
Earlier on Sunday, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner G S Sameeran met representatives of UUI and held discussions with them over the issues raised by the workers.
Following the meeting, the union representatives said Sameeran had assured them that the 13 workers who had been left out would be reinstated.
However, according to the union, the other demands including regularisation, revision of wages and maternity leave involved policy decisions. Sameeran was reported to have told them that these issues would be taken up with higher officials for consideration.
The protest has continued despite the discussions, with the workers maintaining pressure on the state government to act on their demands.
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