For the past two months, nineteen staffers at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru have been staging protests in front of the institute. The 19 employees — 15 women and four men — worked in the Radiology Department and were laid off on July 9 this year. Basavaraj, the general secretary of NIMHANS Pragathipara Workers’ Union (NPWU), told TNM the staffers were verbally abused and sacked for raising apprehensions over safety and sought better transportation after their shift timings were changed.
NPWU secretary Basavaraj said the staffers, who mostly comprise women and are from Dalit families, had been working at the institute for at least a decade before they were laid off. “The NIMHANS Radiology Department changed their shift timings and the second shift was extended until 9.30 pm. During the second wave and the ensuing night curfew and lockdown, public transport was not plying and the staffers had sought transportation facilities for their safety but they were yelled at and told to arrange their own transportation,” he said.
Basavaraj added that the staffers had sought time to arrange transport facilities, but the hospital did not budge. He told TNM, “The hospital had been providing transport before the shift timings changed for everyone. However, the hospital said that it cannot arrange separate transportation for one department and the staffer was later terminated.”
Responding to the allegations, NIMHANS issued a statement saying that the 16 employees were hired on a contract basis by M/s Sree Vinayaka Enterprises. “The employer — which is an outsourcing agency — defines the nature of work, postings and timings of their workers. The issue is between the 16 workers and their employer. NIMHANS has nothing to do with it. Since the 16 workers are not employees of NIMHANS, they have no right to misuse the name of NIMHANS claiming that they are employees of NIMHANS. They are also giving false statements to the media tarnishing the image of the institute,” read the statement. Three former employees who were fired two to three months before the others, have also joined the protests now.
Responding to NIMHANS’s statement, the workers’ union has said that the outsourcing agency had entered into a contract with the facility in 2017 and many of the sacked employees had been working at NIMHANS much before that as well. The union added that there are around 650 workers at NIMHANS similarly employed as ‘contract workers’ and work as hospital assistants. The union added that there has been a dispute over NIMHANS treating these employees as contract workers and not permanent employees, and so pending that, NIMHANS cannot change the service conditions of the workers without the prior permission of the authority, and so the action by NIMHANS is “totally illegal.”
“The attempts made by NIMHANS to wipe their hands of the workers, by claiming that they have nothing to do with the workers, is indicative of the way in which women workers, especially Dalit women workers, whose labour is utilised for years are treated with disdain when they stand up and speak for their rights,” the NPWU said.
“It is indeed unfortunate that NIMHANS as a state authority and an institute of national importance has failed to act as a model employer, which is required of it, and is instead indulging in various forms of subterfuge, unfair labour practices and illegalities to deprives workers, and that too frontline workers, of their legitimate rights,” the statement from NPWU said. Basavaraj said that the workers will continue to stage protests in front of the institution.
1/3 19 Workers employed in NIMHANS for various periods upto 23 years (predominantly Dalit women) have been refused employment for seeking their rights. NIMHANS has now released a press statement stating that the workers are employed by a contractor (who came in in 2017)
— AICCTU Karnataka (@aicctukar) September 1, 2021
... cont. pic.twitter.com/5yxgX8ZMes
As many as 75 concerned women, organisations, and citizens have issued representations, on September 3, to the Director, NIMHANS and Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and expressed their solidarity with the workers. The concerned citizens demanded that the Health Ministry intervenes and takes appropriate action to reinstate the workers with all consequential benefits.
“We condemn NIMHANS’s callous approach to the women workers, in an affront to their life and livelihood. It is also abhorrent that NIMHANS has now installed a CCTV camera in front of the protesting workers, in absolute violation of their right to privacy and the right to peacefully demonstrate,” the letter read.
Over the weekend NIMHANS installed this CCTV to see if any workers go offer support to the 19 dismissed workers. Some of us met the workers today & then met the PRO. He'd been observing us & asked why we visited them & took photos!
— vinaysreenivasa ವಿನಯ (@vinaysreeni) September 3, 2021
Dont spy on workers,NIMHANS - talk to them https://t.co/CaFOkrjxhO pic.twitter.com/D8mi8f8dST
Labelling the NIMHANS’s approach as a callous one, the concerned individuals said, “We stand with these workers who are demanding that they be taken back into service, and demand that the contract system for Group-D workers be abolished. We condemn NIMHANS’s actions and demand that all 19 workers be reinstated with all benefits.”