Garbage clearance comes to a halt as conservancy workers strike in Madurai

A large number of conservancy workers on Thursday staged a road blockade at Kalavasal intersection in the city to show their disappointment and concern over a private outsourcing agency’s new conditions.

The protesters, including women, said the private agency had circulated a form to them in which they had to give a declaration that they would not indulge in any strike and not demand wages for weekly-offs, among other conditions.

The workers said the upkeep activity should be retained by the municipal administrations across the State and not outsourced to private agencies. The Tamil Nadu government should drop the idea of outsourcing as it had more merits for private contractors than the people and tax-paying citizens.

The private agency in Madurai was dictating terms and conditions that were anti-workers. The workers were always under threat of being removed under some pretext or the other.

Workers affiliated with employees unions expressed concern over the unsafe conditions under which they were discharging their duties from the time the State government engaged private players. In the past, when they had demanded wages for working extra time in the past, the private agency rejected it. When they staged protests, it threatened to remove them from service.

“Where do we go, serving food alone to conservancy workers by the government is not sufficient. We need job guarantee,” the protesters raised slogans.

Traffic on the busy intersection was affected for over 30 minutes as the agitators blocked the road. Traffic police and Corporation officials held talks with them, and following an assurance that the private agency would be told to reconsider its decision, they dropped the stir and dispersed.

Meanwhile, officials in the Health Department said the workers resumed duty and cleared the garbage in their respective wards. There was some delay, but they were cleared by noon and in some places by 2 p.m..