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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) informed the Madras High Court on Monday, September 1, that Delhi MSW Solutions Ltd of the Ramky group, the private concessionaire managing conservancy operations in two city zones, has agreed to continue paying absorbed workers their existing wages until an ongoing industrial dispute is resolved.
Advocate General PS Raman told a division bench of Justices MS Ramesh and R Sakthivel that during a meeting with GCC officials on August 30, the company agreed to maintain the last-drawn salaries of conservancy workers in Zones 5 (Royapuram) and 6 (Thiru Vi Ka Nagar) as a temporary measure. The matter is currently before the Industrial Disputes Tribunal, which will hear the case on September 3.
The dispute began after GCC decided to outsource conservancy operations in these two zones to Delhi MSW Solutions.
On August 22, Justice K Surender declined to interfere with the Corporation’s resolutions, noting that similar outsourcing arrangements had already been implemented in other zones. However, he directed GCC to ensure that no worker received less than their current salary. That order came while disposing of petitions filed by Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam, a workers’ organisation, which later appealed against the decision.
When the appeals were heard on Monday, senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing the concessionaire, told the court that nearly 800 workers had not reported for duty, severely affecting garbage clearance in the two zones. With almost 2,000 tonnes of waste requiring daily removal, the absence of workers had created major challenges, he said.
The division bench declined to issue any interim order and instead served notices to GCC and the concessionaire. The appeals will be heard again on October 6. In the meantime, the judges advised the workers to resume duty.
Sanitation workers employed under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) had staged protests outside Ripon Building, the GCC headquarters, demanding that the civic body reverse its decision to privatise solid waste management in Zones 5 and 6.
Under NULM, workers earn around Rs 23,000 per month. After privatisation, wages could drop to Rs 15,000. Although private-sector workers are covered under Provident Fund (PF) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI), protesters argue that reduced take-home pay makes it difficult to meet basic living expenses. They have also demanded job regularisation and the recognition of basic labour rights.
On the night of August 13, 2025, police cracked down on the protest, rounding up nearly 1,000 workers and detaining them in community centres across the city. Protesters alleged that they were physically assaulted and that their phones were confiscated.
(With IANS inputs)