Talks fail, strike to continue
Two rounds of meetings between Haryana government ministers and sanitation workers' unions ended without a breakthrough on Saturday, with union leaders stating that over 50,000 sanitation workers and nearly 2,000 fire department employees would continue their strike.
The talks, held at the Kurukshetra Gymkhana Club, involved a delegation of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh Haryana led by its state president Naresh Shastri, and the Haryana Fire Department Employees Union led by its state president Rajesh Sinad. They met with social justice and empowerment minister Krishan Kumar Bedi and senior officials. The meetings began around 1 pm and ended in the evening with no solution on the key issue of regularisation of jobs, according to the unions.
Shastri said two rounds of talks were held but to no avail, and accused the government of adopting a discriminatory and anti-Dalit stance. “About 50,000 sanitation workers and nearly 2,000 fire department employees have been on strike for the past 17 days due to a discriminatory attitude on the part of the government. The strike would continue,” he said.
Union's accusations
The Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh accused the BJP government of failing to fulfill its 2014 election manifesto, which it said promised regular jobs to sanitation workers across the state. Union leaders also called out the saffron party for socially discriminating against the lowest caste by regularising staffers in other departments while leaving sanitation workers to die in sewers.
Shastri said the unions had already held six to seven rounds of talks with the government, and officials had been unable to find a way to regularise the workers' jobs. He added that sanitation workers continue to lose their lives while working in sewers, and their families receive neither adequate compensation nor employment support, and those responsible are rarely held accountable. He called for the regularisation of sanitation workers and the abolition of the contractual system.
The strike has led to garbage heaps piling up in some areas, with door-to-door waste collection suspended and irregular rain adding to the problems.
Government response
Minister Bedi said the government had already agreed to 13 of the 14 demands raised by the union. On the demand for regularisation, he said legal opinion was being sought to ensure compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana high court. “Regarding the demand for employee regularisation, legal advice is being sought to ensure compliance with the orders of the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana high court. After this, the government will take serious action to address this at the earliest,” the minister said.
Bedi also said discussions were held in a cordial atmosphere with a 10-member committee of the Haryana Municipal Employees Union and the Haryana Fire Services Employees Union. He noted that the chief minister had assigned him to hold talks with the union, and that discussions had also been held on August 5.
The minister said a meeting of the union leaders would be arranged with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, and a request to end the strike was conveyed to the unions but the unions refused.