Contract workers seek pay rise for waste segregation

Trichy: With 70% of the city’s residential and commercial properties relying on sanitary workers to segregate the waste for recycling, the contractual workers are burdened and often forced to work extra time to complete their daily tasks.

Having been employed under the ‘no work, no pay’ category, the sanitary workers who cannot afford to take off from work expect the local body to revise their salary in line with inflation.Through outsourcing since 2023, Trichy Corporation on average spends Rs 4 crore per year on solid waste management, every year the sum spent witness a minimum 10% hike due to the hike in operational costs. But the workers’ wages have been the same for the last two years.

“We report for work by around 6 am, due to the delay in segregating waste, we complete the work by around 4-5 pm. For the additional working hours, we are not getting any extra wages.

The workload is increasing but not the salary,” a contractual worker seeking anonymity said.The workers get Rs 15,000 per month as a salary excluding the benefits and will not be paid for any leave taken from the work, paid much lower than permanent workers.

“We are demanding the govt to pay Rs 26,000 as minimum monthly salary for the contract sanitary workers. Since permanent workers’ strength is declining, contract workers are diverted to compensate for the loss in manpower, so they should be given a minimum wage,” K Suresh, a CPI councillor said.As of March 2026, there were 800 permanent workers, some of whom have retired. There are about 1,800 contractual sanitary workers. Permanent workers who are directlyunder the payroll of Trichy corporation are engaged to clean roads, clear stormwater drains, and to engage in special cleaning drives. Outsourced contractual workers are involved in doorstep waste collection and segregation