Willing to work, even without pay, during monsoon, protesting conservancy workers tell Madras High Court

Conservancy workers protesting against outsourcing of their work in zones V (Royapuram) and VI (Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar) of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) are willing to work, even without wages, during the monsoon in November, Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI) told the Madras High Court on Monday.

In an affidavit filed before the third Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and R. Sakthivel, the UUI president K. Bharathi said, the protesting workers were willing to work during November as a gesture of goodwill and in the interest of the general public and that they would not even seek wages as a pre-condition.

“Though it is true that we are suffering due to forced non-employment from August 1, 2025; we will do the sanitation work during the monsoon period in November 2025 since serving the people is an integral part of our life,” the affidavit, filed before the Division Bench during the hearing of a couple of writ appeals, read.

Stating that neither the State government nor the GCC would be prejudiced by accepting the protesting workers’ unconditional and voluntary services, Mr. Bharathi assured that they would not take advantage of such service either in the cases pending before the High Court or the dispute raised before the industrial tribunal.

“We offer to serve as the cleanliness warriors of the people,” the deponent said and expressed confidence that the trade unions and the concerned citizens of Chennai would definitely take care of the needs of the protesting conservancy workers who serve during the monsoon period.

UUI also conceded the claim of Delhi MSW Solutions Limited, which had bagged the conservancy work contract in zones V and VI, that it had issued appointment letters to 821 self-help group (SHG) conservancy workers, but 400 of them had not reported for work even after receiving the letters.

The organisation said, the 400 workers chose not to join duty because of the unfavourable service conditions, low take home salary and lack of job security. It said, when the contractor itself was liable to be changed anytime, how could the entity ensure job security for the conservancy workers.

After perusing the affidavit, the Division Bench adjourned the hearing on the writ appeals to November 10.