TUCI Dharna in front of Cochin Corporation Office

by admin March 16, 2024

written by admin March 16, 2024

Ernakulam District Garbage collection workers union under the banner of TUCI made a sit-in protest, demanding their essential demands in front of Cochin Corporation office on 15th March. TUCI All India President, Adv Sabi Joseph inaugurated the Dharna.

The striking workers’ raised various demands including implementation of the Garbage Collection Workers’ Bill of Rights, for recognization of waste collection workers, repealing the law denying service to local self-government bodies to those who do not have a user fee payment receipt, investigating by vigilance on corruption in the department and excluding private agencies from the waste collection sector.

In the inaugural speech of Adv Sabi Joseph, it was clarified that the contingent employees CLR, DLR, employees who have been working for years in order to completely privatize the waste collection, storage and processing areas were being phased out and contract employees were being appointed and turned into beggars.

For more than a quarter of a century, neither the corporation nor the labor department has enacted any legislation to recognize the waste collection workers of the Kochi Corporation as workers under labor laws. It was clarified in the department’s written reply to the petition filed by the union with the Department of Labour. Even during the COVID period stay-at-home order, waste collection workers who were forced to clean the city were not even given any risk allowance during that period. The workers who have to collect all kinds of organic and inorganic wastes were subjected to all kinds of contagious diseases and the pathetic demise. The retirements of the most of these workers are being happening in this way.

The women of ‘Kudumbashree’ have been assigned to the area as Harita Karmasena to implement the World Bank mandate to exempt local self-government bodies and workers from the task of waste collection and entrust it to private monopolies. Classes are organized with Kila experts to generate extra income by collecting and turning the waste and making handicrafts from the waste materials. The corporation has decided to collect 10% user fee from the monthly income of 150 rupees paid by households to those who do garbage collection work without paying government money. The remaining amount are being received as wages. In guise of entrusting the task of empowering women through ‘Kudumbashee’, the entire workers in this sector are denied all the basic labour rights. The Government is providing opportunities to the private agencies to hire unorganized workers from other states on contract basis at meager wages and rob higher profits when workers from the state leave the workforce soon after being overburdened with low-wage jobs.

The government has passed a law requiring the production of user fee receipts for license renewal and payment of fees, relieving health inspectors of their responsibility and handing over the power to private agencies. The Union has filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Vigilance demanding that the corruption of crores of rupees committed in the purchase of vehicles and the corruptions committed by health inspectors in the name of user fees be subjected to vigilance investigation.

Union President T.C. Subramanian presided. PN Babu welcomed the Merchants Union Secretary. TK Musa, Sindhu K Sivan (TUC State Committee Member), CPI (ML) Red Star State Secretariat Member M.K. Dasan, cultural forum district committee member Anoop Oommen, and right to information activist Faris Abu delivered solidarity speeches. T H Babu extended vote of thanks.