Sanitation workers, cleanliness guards and drivers in Nagapattinam have begun an indefinite strike, disrupting garbage collection and other civic services across the coastal Tamil Nadu town as they press for permanent employment, better wages and safety protections.
The workers, affiliated with trade unions operating under the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), assembled outside the Nagapattinam Municipality office on Monday to demonstrate and submit a six-point charter of demands. Municipal and local body workers abstained from duty during the agitation, following which garbage began accumulating in residential neighbourhoods and commercial areas, according to a report by PTI published by Deccan Chronicle.
The principal demand is the permanent absorption of contract, daily wage and outsourced workers who have continued performing municipal functions without regular employment status. The unions have also sought an immediate halt to the privatisation of sanitation work and the implementation of a fixed monthly statutory living wage.
The workers’ charter also includes compassionate appointments for the families of deceased employees, payment of pending allowances for hazardous duties performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and strict compliance with Employee Provident Fund provisions. The unions have additionally demanded that workers receive safety equipment, including protective gear required for handling waste.
Speaking during the protest, Selvi, a municipal sanitation worker, said she and others had worked for 12 to 15 years without their services being regularised or their wages being increased adequately. She also alleged that sanitation staff were required to sort garbage with their bare hands and were not provided protective gloves. Her remarks were reported by PTI.
The dispute highlights the dependence of urban local bodies on workers who perform essential and continuous services while often remaining employed through temporary, outsourced or daily-wage arrangements. In Nagapattinam, the immediate consequence has been visible in the accumulation of uncollected waste in public and residential areas, while the longer-running demands concern employment status, remuneration, occupational safety and the organisation of municipal sanitation services.
Former MLA Nagai Mali, who addressed the demonstration, urged the state government to initiate tripartite talks involving officials, trade union representatives and the workers. He described sanitation work as permanent and indispensable and called for an end to attempts to privatise essential municipal services.
The workers are continuing their indefinite strike while seeking action on the six demands. No further government response or resolution timeline was provided in the report.
