Labour commission summons CMRL, jobs of dismissed employees in uncertainty

Employees said that the management cancelled their job offers and instead outsourced contract employees in their place.
Staff of CMRL protesing at CMRL Headquarters in April | EPS
Staff of CMRL protesing at CMRL Headquarters in April | EPS

CHENNAI: The State labour commission has sent a summon and show cause notice to Chennai metro rail about the dismissal of four permanent employees last year.

These four employees raised an issue with the labour commission that a group of staff who took part in the strike in April face discrimination at work even now. Though the management promised that these employees will not face any repurcussions, the reality is different claim employees.

The strike organised by the employees union disrupted services for three days in April. Their main demand was for the management to reinstate the dismissed employees and stop outsourcing contract employees for technical posts.

Employees said they decided to withdraw the strike then as metro rail management agreed to the terms set by the labour commission. But their promises were not kept up later.

This problem started when 50-odd employees who were selected by the management for the post of station controllers were not given the job. Employees said that the management cancelled their job offers and
instead outsourced contract employees in their place. "The president of our union wrote to two companies KCIC and BVG saying its unfair to provide contract staff when the recruited employees aren't given jobs.
There were seven names of current employees on this letter and we were all dismissed later in December 2018," said Parameshwaran A, one of the dismissed employees.

Recently, three out of these four employees were given back their jobs only after they quit the union. The other four are struggling to meet ends without a steady salary. "My wife is pregnant and she will deliver the baby next month. But as I don't medical insurance I'm trying to borrow money to pay for the delivery. I don't want to quit the union as it is the only platform to fight for our rights," said another dismissed employee, who didn't want to be named.

Moreover, sources privy to the issue said that around 120 employees who participated in the strike in April are being pulled up by management. Also, nine permanent staff who were suspended on grounds of misconduct for participating in the strike, haven't gotten their jobs back. An enquiry regarding this is going on.

Assistant Labour Commissioner, A Jeyalakshmi, said that during the conciliation time, the metro rail management had dismissed these seven employees, which is against the Labour Act. "The management isn't cooperating with the commission on this matter. On Wednesday, those who were summoned did not appear before the commission. Because of this employees who been suspended and dismissed wrongly are struggling without salary," she added.

When Express contact metro rail, Pankaj Bansal, Managing Director, said that he was not aware of this issue and that the Human Resource department is handling the matter which will be resolved soon.

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