Conservancy workers stage protest in Thoothukudi

Thoothukudi Corporation sanitation workers, who are on contract, staging a protest in the city on Friday demanding prompt payment of salaries.
| Photo Credit: N. RAJESH

Conservancy workers of Thoothukudi Corporation staged a protest on Friday condemning the delay in salary payments.

Around 1,000 workers are employed in Thoothukudi Corporation’s conservancy department, through a private firm on a contract basis. During a protest last year, both the Corporation and contract firm had agreed to pay salaries before the 5th of every month.

However, despite this commitment, the contract firm continued to delay salary payments every month. This month, even after a week, salaries had not been disbursed, the protesters said.

The protest was led by AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) executive committee member Sahayam. He said: “The daily wage for municipal contract workers is fixed annually by the District Collector and once every five years by the State government. However, these workers are not receiving the wages set by these authorities and instead they are being paid much lower wages.” He said the contract firm had agreed in previous protest that salaries would be paid before the 5th of every month but it still continued to delay the payments.

Upon receiving information about the protest, Health Department officials from the Corporation arrived at the protest site and held discussion with the workers. They assured that immediate action would be taken to release the pending salaries. Following this assurance, the protest was called off and the workers dispersed.