Sanitary workers call off strike after assurances to update pay, end privatisation
Union representatives ended the protest after a five-hour meeting in Chennai with director of municipal administration P Madhusudhan Reddy and talks with local civic authorities.
Workers in each municipality or corporation will receive either the revised standard minimum wage or the rate fixed by the respective district collector, whichever is higher, protecting existing higher wage structures,” CITU district secretary Balasubramaniam said. A senior corporation official said that outsourcing will temporarily continue. “Govt will assess NULM deployment in municipalities before considering extending the direct-control system to larger urban civic bodies,” he said. He added that contractor payments, currently calculated according to garbage tonnage, will instead be based on workforce strength and baseline statutory wages. “Future municipal tenders will mandate administrative oversight to ensure provident fund, Employees’ State Insurance, pensions and annual bonuses,” he added.
“State government agreed to issue a revised minimum wage order within a week. Workers will be brought under direct government administrative control and supervision through the National Urban Livelihoods Mission,” he added.