Sanitary workers share their grievances at public hearing

A public hearing in Madurai addresses the grievances of sanitary workers, including discrimination, low wages, and poor working conditions.

A public hearing on the grievances of the sanitary workers at the village panchayat level was held in Madurai on Saturday. A representation will be made to the government based on the recommendations and solutions given by the panel that heard the grievances of the workers.

The sanitary workers shared their problems and the issues they faced during the course of their employment. Some of the issues discussed at the public hearing included the rights of the workers, minimum wages, job security, discrimination and humiliation faced by the workers at the workplace.

The event was organised by the Madurai Legal Awareness Coordination Committee (M-LACC). Advocate Philomin Raj of M-LACC said that the sanitary workers, particularly those working at the village panchayat levels, faced caste discrimination and were working in miserable conditions.

He said that the public hearing was organised with the main objective of giving them an opportunity to speak out against the discrimination they faced and bring it to the knowledge of society. Many sanitary workers refuse to speak about their ordeal as they fear that they could be targeted for speaking out. The public hearing is an opportunity to overcome the fear, he said.

He said that the workers were made to work without any proper leaves or holidays and were not paid properly. Some of them were not even aware as to whether they were permanent employees or were employed on contract basis as they were not informed. They were not considered as government employees and they did not avail themselves of any benefits.

Advocate R. Alagumani said that the sanitary workers were poorly paid and were not even paid the minimum wages. He said that they were made to work overtime without any proper break in between working hours. The wages were unequal. They were not provided safety equipment, he said.