Sanitation workers call off strike, BMC assures of an agreement on Monday
The strike was shelved following a meeting with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and senior civic officials, where the commissioner assured that an agreement will be finalised on July 28.
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On Tuesday, civic officials including BMC chief Gagrani convened a meeting with a delegation of representatives from the Municipal Kamgar Action Committee and the BMC Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti. Amid assurance of no reduction in posts, Mumbai’s civic sanitation workers on Tuesday called off their strike which was slated to commence on Wednesday. The strike was shelved following a meeting with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and senior civic officials, where the commissioner assured that an agreement will be finalised on July 28.
In what seeks to completely overhaul Mumbai’s waste collection and transportation system, the BMC, in a tender floated on May 14, has proposed a plan to outsource the entire work of collecting door-to-door waste as well as clearing garbage lying in the open apart from transporting the civic municipal waste collected to the disposal or processing facilities. The tender seeks to privatise the system of waste collection in 22 wards wherein private contractors will be given charge of providing the new waste collection trucks, drivers as well as staff for collecting the waste.
However, the tender had drawn flak from labour unions over concerns of jeopardy to the jobs of BMC’s permanent as well as contractual conservancy workers, including over 7,000 motor loaders. In a bid to register their protest, the labour unions staged a protest at Azad Maidan on July 17, wherein BJP leader and cabinet minister Girish Mahajan extended support to the agitating workers. Following the protest, a delegation of municipal workers along with Mahajan also met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
With the government extending support, the workers had deferred their strike to July 23, stating that the final call would be taken after an agreement with the civic chief.
On Tuesday, civic officials including BMC chief Gagrani convened a meeting with a delegation of representatives from the Municipal Kamgar Action Committee and the BMC Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti. During the course of the meeting, the municipal workers were assured that all demands of the workers will be met, including demands pertaining to retention of contract workers, security of worker posts as well as implementation of the recommendations floated by the Lad-Page committee. According to the labour union leaders, the BMC chief said that a final agreement would be chalked out and confirmed on Monday.
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