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AITUC opposes outsourcing of services in local bodies

— Photo:T.Singaravelou

AIRING THEIR VIEWS: A meeting of the confederation of the workers’ unions of the municipalities and commune panchayats being held in Puducherry on Wednesday.

PUDUCHERRY: The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) will oppose outsourcing and contracting out any work in the local bodies, as such moves would affect the interests of the existing workforce, its national vice-president S. S.Thiagarajan said here on Wednesday.

After inaugurating the first conference of the confederation of the workers’ unions of the municipalities and commune panchayats in the Union Territory, Mr.Thiagarajan told The Hindu that the AITUC was also opposed to attempts to outsource its works such as maintenance of sanitation to private agencies including self-help groups.

Trade unions had come across similar problems everywhere, he said, adding that outsourcing resulted in pitting one set of workers against another.

The conditions of contract workers whether employed by the local bodies or by the private agencies remained the same, as they continued to be deprived of their rights, besides drawing reduced wages, Mr. Thiagarajan pointed out.

Against this backdrop, the Puducherry AITUC conference assumed importance, he said, describing it as an effort to bring together around 2,500 unorganised and downtrodden sections of workers employed by the five municipalities and 11 commune panchayats in the Union Territory, he said.

In the prevailing scenario, permanency of the workforce was their basic demand. Though there had been Acts and Rules which had made it clear that the workers should be made permanent after two years of service, they had not been regularised even after completing 10 years of service, he added.

Scanty promotional avenues had also denied job satisfaction to these workers. Even if there was promotional avenue in some places, it had been done in a selective manner by introducing the clause of educational qualification.

Even the fact that their long innings of service would compensate the lack of educational qualification was not considered, Mr.Thiagarajan pointed out. Though the Union Territory Government had been adopting the Central payscale, it was not made applicable to these workers, as the local bodies had to depend on their own funds. This had resulted in irregular disbursement of salaries.

To overcome this problem, the AITUC conference had demanded that these workers of the municipalities and commune panchayats be given Government employees’ status, he said.

A total of 250 delegates including women took part in the conference.

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