Municipal Corporation (MC) employees, sanitation workers and sewer workers staged protests on Wednesday at civic body offices in the city.
The protests were part of a statewide strike called by municipal employee unions over their pending demands.
Under the banner of Municipal Employees Dal Punjab and other organisations, employees staged a sit-in inside the MC Zone-D office. They also submitted a memorandum to the MC Commissioner. The protesters raised slogans against the contractual system and demanded regularisation of employees working in civic bodies across the state.
Union leaders Yashpal Chaudhary, Naresh Dheegan and Vicky Sahota alleged the contractual system was continuing in civic bodies despite announcements by the state government regarding abolition of the practice.
They demanded immediate regularisation of sanitation and sewer workers, reduction of the probation period from three years to a year and exemption from medical conditions for regularisation.
The unions also raised the issue of Ludhiana MC employees allegedly denied regularisation in 2021 after being declared overage. They claimed the notification issued at that time did not clearly mention the age criteria and demanded they be regularised now.
The protesters reiterated their demand for restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. Union leaders claimed the state government had announced restoration of the scheme in 2022 but no notification had been issued so far.
They also demanded permanent employment people engaged in door-to-door garbage collection. The protesters warned to intensify the stir if their demands were not accepted soon.
Members of the Municipal Employees Joint Committee staged a protest outside the MC Zone A office near Mata Rani Chowk. Representatives of various unions, including sanitation, labour and mechanical workers’ bodies, participated in the demonstration and submitted a memorandum to MC Joint Commissioner Amanpreet Singh.
The protesters opposed the decision to hand over sewer cleaning work of 26 wards to a private company for two years at a cost of Rs 38 crore.
Union leaders alleged outsourcing civic works would affect the livelihood and job security of municipal employees.
