BMC sanitation workers cancel strike

The BMC will now proceed with its proposal to hire private contractors, with 24 companies showing interest, officials aware of the developments said

Mumbai: Following an almost two-month-long dispute with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the proposed privatisation of waste collection and transportation in the city, thousands of motor loaders—those who tip garbage into compactors—on Tuesday called off their impending strike after getting assurances from the civic body that no jobs will be lost, according to union leaders.

Motor loader unions had a meeting with the BMC on Tuesday, following several protests over the last couple of months and threats of a strike. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

The BMC will now proceed with its proposal to hire private contractors, with 24 companies showing interest, officials aware of the developments said. The move will purportedly save the civic body ₹160 crore every year.

Motor loader unions had a meeting with the BMC on Tuesday, following several protests over the last couple of months and threats of a strike. As the civic body is proposing to outsource the waste disposal and transportation work, the 6,000 permanent and 1,500 contractual motor loaders feared they would lose their jobs.

The BMC had previously promised the permanent workers that their jobs would not be affected and that they would instead be made sweepers. At Tuesday’s meeting, civic officials again assured the workers that their jobs were safe, according to union leaders.

“The BMC also assured us that all the benefits the sanitation workers get due to the Lad-Page Committee will continue, including the jobs given to kin of the workers on preferential treatment,” said Kapil Patil, a leader of the Municipal Kamgaar Action Committee, formed in the midst of the unrest. “They also said the permanent homes promised to them will be fast-tracked. We are satisfied with the meeting, and the strike has been called off.”

The Lad-Page Committee, established by the Maharashtra government in 1972, recommended providing employment to the legal heirs of sanitation workers. These recommendations were implemented through various government resolutions from 1979.

Reiterating the promises made by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis last week, the BMC assured the motor loader unions that it would not remove any of the 31,000-odd sanctioned posts in its sanitation department after the privatisation, according to union leaders. The civic body also said it would make contractual workers employed through nonprofits permanent, keeping their pay and job specifications the same, the leaders added.

Kiran Dighavkar, deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) of solid waste management, confirmed that permanent motor loaders would not lose their jobs, but said that the fate of contractual workers is still being discussed.

“We have listened to the requests of the motor loader unions. We will consider them and get back to them next week. As for the contract workers being made permanent, we will consider it and get back to them. Permanent motor loaders are assured of having their jobs and payments remaining unaffected. Now, we can go ahead with the waste collection and transportation tender as the unions are satisfied,” said Dighavkar.

As many as 24 companies have responded to the BMC’s ₹4,000-crore tender for the waste collection and transportation. The contract will include supplying garbage compactors, labour, public bins, and even encouraging segregation, officials said. The technical and financial scrutiny of the bids will begin on Wednesday.

While it will take another month to finalise the contractors, two of the interested bidders have approached the Bombay high court, claiming they have been excluded by the tender’s specifications. “The picture will only get clearer on Wednesday, when we find out which companies have bid for the eight contracts for different zones for waste collection and transportation in the wards,” said an official from the solid waste department (SWD).

If the two companies that have gone in for litigation are among the bidders, the contracts—for the zone-wise tender they have bid in—may take longer to fix, the official added.