Chandigarh: Contractual employees protest for demands on Labour Day

On the occasion of Labour Day, the members of All Contractual Karamchari Sangh Bharat, Chandigarh, organised a protest to voice their pending demands at the Sector 20 mosque ground on Thursday.

Tributes were paid to the martyred workers of Chicago in 1886 at the beginning of the programme.

Contractual employees, outsourced employees of Chandigarh, various unions, federations and citizens participated in this programme with their families and raised slogans against the Chandigarh administration for the resolution of their long-pending demands.

Sangh president Ashok Kumar and general secretary Satish Kumar said contractual and outsourced employees have demanded a meeting with the administrationseveral times for the resolution of their demands, but no positive step has been taken in this direction so far.

Poonam Tapriyal, senior vice-president of the employees’ union, said for the last 20-25 years, no job security policy has been put in place for contractual and outsourced employees working in various departments, adding that in other states, a policy has been made in this regard.

Sangh chairman Bipin Sher Singh said, “This struggle is neither about you nor about me - it is about all of us, who are working hard together.”

He demanded that on the lines of neighbouring states, job security should be provided to contractual employees appointed under proper procedure, and for the protection of outsourced employees, labour laws, especially the CLR&A Act, 1970, should be strictly followed, which includes equal pay for equal work and the abolition of contracting system.

The employees’ union also warned that if a meeting is not held soon by the Chandigarh administration regarding its pending demands, the movement will be intensified and a march will soon be taken out to the Governor House.