CHENNAI: Sanitation workers, led by Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI), continued their protest for the seventh consecutive day on the Ripon Buildings premises on Wednesday, even as they said the Greater Chennai Corporation assured them that the 13 workers who were left out of the earlier reinstatement would be taken back. The workers said the protest would continue till Saturday as they await a meeting with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
“The civic body has assured us that the 13 workers will be reinstated, most probably by Thursday. As School Education Minister A Rajmohan has assured us that arrangements will be made for sanitation workers to meet the chief minister, we have decided to continue our peaceful protest until Saturday, after which the protest may intensify if our demands are not met,” said K Suresh, LTUC state secretary.
Following a major protest by sanitary workers against outsourcing of garbage collection last year, the corporation had assured the Madras High Court last year it would reinstate them back into service. Around 1,400 workers were reinstated in February, but 13 of them were left out
The workers have placed a range of demands before the government, including job regularisation, revision of their daily wage to `832 as fixed by the Chennai collector, maternity and menstrual leave, housing for workers, and office space for UUI.
Rajmohan held talks with representatives of the workers on Monday and, according to the union, agreed that most of their demands, except job regularisation, were reasonable. He also assured them that arrangements would be made for a meeting with the chief minister after discussions.
On Tuesday, there was a commotion between the workers and the police after the protesters alleged that they were prevented from staging their demonstration at the Ripon Buildings. The police, however, denied the charges. The protest was held without any incident on Wednesday between 4 pm and 6 pm.