Hyderabad, March 02: There was an all-pervading stink in the capital when the sanitary municipal contract staff too joined the 48-hour bandh last week. Hectic parleys and much cajoling by senior officials helped in getting them back to work to lift the near 4,000 tonnes of garbage generated by the twin cities each day along with the accumulated previous two days’ ‘stock’.
Just when the GHMC was breathing easy, one of the trade unions served a strike notice. Their demand: hike the minimum wages from the current Rs, 4,000-odd a month for the 20,000 sanitary staff. Surprisingly, the municipal corporation is game it but does not have the powers to do so!
Welfare measures
“We can only follow notification issued by the Commissioner of Labour on the daily wages. The file is under circulation at the government level,” said Additional Commissioner (Health & Sanitation) S. Aleem Basha. In fact, the GHMC is ready for a substantial hike to the tune of little more than Rs. 6,000 for the sanitary staff.
“We are ready for any measure which benefits our sanitation workers,” avers Mr. Basha. In recent months, sanitary workers have been issued ESI, PF cards and bank accounts too have been opened for a vast majority plugging the leaks in the payments made. Insurance policies were introduced ranging from Rs.50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh for disability or death. Families of five workers had benefitted from the life insurance policies.
Blow to workers
Unfortunately, the GHMC has not been consulted by the Labour Department as it discusses the issue with various industrial bodies to arrive at the ‘right’ figure for computing the mandatory wages. This had led to piquant situations before.
For instance, workers unions were up in arms when the last hike was made from Rs. 3,900 a month to Rs. 4,030 a month.
The so-called hike came as a crushing blow to the workers already under pressure from the rising prices all around.
Even senior officials admitted that the payments were not fair but could do little since they don’t decide the wages.
“We may not be an industry but we have been employing thousands of labourers for years so it would have been nice if the municipal corporation’s views too are taken into account,” they argue.
-Agencies