New Delhi: Around 170 contract workers employed by the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) for sanitation work have been on strike for five days demanding the payment of Diwali bonus, regularisation of attendance register and protesting the “unjust and exploitative” working conditions.
Gathered in the lawns of the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, these workers have resolved to continue their strike until their demands are met. They claim that they have been threatened with arbitrary layoffs if they don’t return to work immediately.
Students and teachers of the university have expressed solidarity with the striking workers. Both the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) and Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) have issued statements in this regard, criticising the university administration for this “attack” on workers.
“These workers do the most thankless and degrading job but are now being short changed and denied what is rightfully theirs. Recently, when the administration removed posters from the university walls to undermine the JNU culture, these workers were made to do the hazardous and risky job on top of their daily work by making them climb high walls through rickety wooden ladders. However, while they were promised extra payment, none is forthcoming and has been flatly refused by the administration now,” a release by JNUSU said.
In a charter of demands submitted to the vice-chancellor, the sanitation workers have called the functioning of Sudarshan Facility Private Limited, the contract company that employs them, “corrupt, authoritarian and undemocratic”. JNU is the principal employer of the workers and they blame the university administration equally for hiding behind the contractor to distance themselves from their legal obligations towards the workers.
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“The contractors change every two-three years but workers are mostly the same. In addition to the bonus, we have an even bigger concern of losing our jobs now. We have heard that all the old workers will be replaced by new workers in November. Where will we go? Who will employ us? This is being done because we are organised and seen as troublemakers,” 35-year-old Sachin Messi, who has been working in JNU for seven years, told The Wire.
Sanitation workers strike in JNU. Photo: Akhil Kumar/The Wire
The charter of demands lists a host of issues including “being reduced to shadows”, lack of safety equipment, work overload, being made to do jobs which are not under their work area, arbitrary fines, moral policing and surveillance. They also claim that they have been subjected to abusive and disrespectful language.
Workers, who have been employed in the university for over a decade, told The Wire that this is the first time they have been denied their Diwali bonus, which was Rs 2,500 last year. The workers are paid a minimum wage of around Rs 12,000 per month and have said that the bonus is important for them during the festive season.
Attendance is another major issue that the charter of demand raises. Workers claim that their attendance is marked with a pencil tick instead of signature with a pen. This, they say, is being done to get rid of any liability in case of accidents at the workplace.
“This practically means not us but our shadows are working in the school area. In case of any accident, the contractor could easily erase our existence with just one stroke [and] the accident would fall in off-duty category. Off-duty accident means the contractor is not liable of any responsibility,” the charter of demand says. With a lack of equipment and precarious working conditions, workers live in fear of workplace accidents.
The workers are also demanding that every day of the strike be counted as a full working day and that there should be no deduction in wages. They have also raised the issue of arbitrary memos and fines and demanded the immediate reinstatement of two workers who were laid off because of it.
Also read: Sanitation Workers Protest ‘Arbitrary Dismissal’ by Delhi University
Other issues mentioned in the charter include work overload due to layoffs in the last eight months, lack of proper safety equipment (gum boots, rubber hand gloves, working wipers, brooms and rugs) and clothes for working, fixing the nature of the job and setting up of a grievance redressal cell composed of teachers, students, staffs and workers.
The workers are in constant fear of being laid off as they say they are being threatened with the termination of services by the supervisor. “The supervisor called me and said that we will be laid off on Monday if we don’t return to work. I have three children and am the sole earner in the family. I can’t desert my colleagues in this struggle. What should I do?” Indravati, who has been working in JNU for two years since her husband passed away, told The Wire.
Photo: Akhil Kumar/The Wire
In this regard, a delegation of JNUSU met the registrar on Thursday. “I met Pramod Kumar, the registrar, along with Saket Moon, vice president of JNUSU and discussed the situation. He, in verbal communication, assured that the workers who are on strike won’t be laid off. We have appealed to the administration to immediately intervene and pressurise the company to at least not slash the salary of these four days because they are on strike for their right to receive bonus,” JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh told The Wire.
The workers have decided to stand firm in their demand for full wages for the duration of the strike. “Eventually, we will only do the work that has piled up because of the strike. Why shouldn’t we be given the wages then? It’s unfortunate that we have been forced to shame them publicly for a bonus for the festive season,” another worker said.