CHENNAI: Over 150 contract workers employed at the University of Madras have not received their salaries for June and July. The issue is affecting workers across its four campuses in the city, and comes at a time when the university is grappling with a financial crisis as the state government has not given it funds.
The workers from Guindy campus, including watchmen and housekeeping staff who earn a meagre Rs 9,000, recently appealed to the labour commissioner to intervene in the issue. They said the contract of the previous company responsible for their salaries was over, and a new company has now taken over the maintenance of the university.
In their letter, the contract staff stated that the previous contractor failed to pay their salaries within the stipulated time for these two months and has since vacated the premises. They added that the university of Madras also failed to ensure timely disbursement of their salaries. “This is a violation of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970,” the letter read.
According to the employees, they were paid on time till last December, but faced issues since then. “We usually receive our salaries within the first week of the month. However, for the past nine months, we’ve been struggling with delays and non-payment,” said a security staff member. The affected workers said when the letter was submitted a week ago, officials from the labour commissioner’s office had assured they would look into the matter and initiate talks with the contractor and university officials.