Municipal Workers In Telangana Plan Indefinite Strike

Municipal workers in Telangana are planning to embark on an indefinite statewide strike from 25 April. The Telangana State Municipal Workers’ Union has formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC). They are demanding an increase in wages in line with the latest pay revision committee recommendations, as well as permanent jobs for the contractual, part-time and outsourced staff.

On 11 April, the workers had staged a protest outside the office of the Commissioner and Director of Municipal Administration in capital Hyderabad. Saibaba, state general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, was among the speakers at the protest meeting.   

The municipal authorities have failed to respond to the demands of pay hike and regularisation of services, even after talks with the union members. Therefore, contractual, part-time and outsourced workers from various departments, including sanitation, have decided to halt work from 25 April.

In March, Telangana IT and Municipal Administration Minister K Taraka Rama Rao had given assurance that wages of sanitation workers under the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation would be increased.

Municipal workers have been protesting in other states as well with similar demands of wage hikes, regularisation and even payment of pending salaries.

In Andhra Pradesh, municipal workers had gone on strike in December last year, demanding increase in wages, regularisation of jobs, assurance of General Provident Fund, health cards for permanent workers, etc. Their strike was called off after the state government assured the workers’ unions that their demands would be met.

In Punjab, workers of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation protested this March against non-payment of salaries for eight to nine months.

In Puducherry, municipal workers protested this January demanding the the 7th pay commission scales.

In Dehradun, municipal workers last November went on strike but called it off after being assured that a government order for the implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations would be issued.

In Delhi, sanitation workers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation withdrew their strike this month, after being assured that their demands for regularisation and timely payment of salaries would be met. 

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";}