Delhi: IGDTUW University’s sanitation workers stage protest against administration’s casteism

Delhi's IGDTUW Campus is seeing protests since 12 February by sanitation workers against instances of casteism, transfers, and firing of 2 Dalit women.

For the last few months, these sanitation workers are struggling to get justice against instances of casteist harassment by their contractor and IGDTUW's hostel warden. Dalit woman Sangita Devi was transferred without prior notice, along with another worker Pinky, when they complained against the administration.

"The contractor and supervisor have used casteist slurs against us, they call 'gande log', 'neech' and 'bhangi', and don't allow us to change clothes after the shift while going back home. We have been protesting against this. The hostel warden has also been harassing us," says a sanitation worker requesting anonymity.

It has been said by the administration that the transfer was due to 'administrative reasons' but the workers are alleging that voicing out against malpractices and mistreatment of the workers prevalent in the University.

IGDTUW made negative headlines earlier in September 2021 as well, when workers fought for their jobs after being removed with no notice. Following a month-long struggle, they were reinstated, and the University promised that sanitation staff will not be removed without prior notice and will be promised: "continuation of employment until capability to work."
Sanitation workers have repeatedly been protesting all over India over the regularisation of their work, and against the unpredictable nature of their contract work.

"University administration never cared to perform the duties and responsibilities of the principal employer. The old contract company ACME employed workers at University without maintaining proper record and administration also never cared to ask for such records," Harish Gautam from Safai Kamgar Union says.

3 workers namely Montu, Sunil, and Vicky who were working as sanitation staff at the University, were paid a salary by the supervisor of ACME, by hand. Later when all workers were reinstated on 21st October, these 3 were denied jobs. The reason given by University was that they don't have records of these workers. These 3 are still unemployed despite repeated requests and meetings.

Harish says, "The fact that these workers have no safety net due to the irregular and contractual nature of their work opens them up to many windows of harm. They are exploited constantly."

Jasoda Devi, the senior-most sanitation worker employed at IGDTUW, deeply distressed by the apathy of the university administration towards the plight of workers, broke down. Another worker is seen on video, saying, "No admin takes our complaints, they say you are "neechi jaati", we will not speak to you."

Among the staff of the three Municipal Corporation of Delhi (North, South, and East), of the 94 deaths among corporation employees due to Covid, 49 are sanitation workers.

Sanitation work in India is intergenerational and is disproportionately performed by members of scheduled castes, or other vulnerable social groups. Sanitation workers are tasked with disinfecting public spaces as the COVID-19 crisis continues to impact us. Sanitation employees are people who work in any part of the sanitation chain: cleaning toilets, emptying pits and septic tanks, cleaning sewers and manholes and operating pumping stations and remedy plants, and so forth. The pandemic has similarly exacerbated their exclusion and vulnerabilities; therefore incidents like this must be faced with stringent actions.

"Following the workers' demonstration, they have been given attendance for the previous days. The admin has sent a written order for reinstating the 2 workers who were being transferred. We have been assured that the 3 removed workers' issue will be considered sympathetically," SKU tweeted.

Reprinted from TCN's original report..