Madurai corporation workers’ unions protest over pending dues

Madurai: The federation of Madurai Corporation labour unions held a sit-in protest opposite the Madurai Junction railway station on Wednesday, demanding resolutions to a list of long-standing grievances affecting permanent, consolidated, and contract workers.Representing workers from the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and Labour Liberation Front (LLF), the federation's primary demand was for a minimum daily wage of 761, which the unions insisted should be paid with arrears dating back to Sept 2023. This demand extended to sanitary workers and various technical staff across the hygiene and engineering departments, as well as the transition of consolidated workers from merged village panchayats into time-scale pay.The workers also called for the establishment of a waste disposal zone in each of the five zones in Madurai to avoid needing to travel to the dumping site in Vellakal.The petition further called for the reinstatement of terminated drivers and supervisors, the abandonment of the current biometric attendance system, and the initiation of bi-monthly grievance meetings involving union representatives and management.Corporation officials held discussions with the protesters, following which the civic body reportedly agreed to establish a localised waste disposal point in every zone to reduce fuel costs and travel time to the Vellakkal dumping site. Additionally, the administration promised to release pending pay slips for both permanent and daily wage workers within the next few days and aimed to ensure salary disbursements were completed by the 10th of every month.