Workers protest seeking to revoke termination orders

Workers protest seeking to revoke termination orders

Around 500 Domestic Breeding Checkers (DBC) staged a protest outside the Madurai City Corporation office on Friday condemning the oral termination order they received from the corporation officials. They demanded to revoke the order and admit them to the work again.  

The protesters said they had been working for nearly a decade. Other than the dengue prevention works, they had all been utilised for other works like sweeping, cleaning and other sanitation works, they claimed.  

They said they never questioned the officials for assigning them works other than the dengue prevention work. In this situation, they received a call from officials on the night of Thursday asking them not to show up for the work on the following day.  

Many other workers who did not receive calls from the officials were not allowed to do their regular duty when they came to their ward office on Friday morning.

The corporation officials dispersed the protesters pointing out the disturbance caused by them to the Republic Day celebration. The workers were asked orally to resume their work by registering their names on the registry. 

However, the protesters were hesitant as they could not confirm the officials’ oral instruction as the corporation officials signed an order terminating the work of the 530 DBC workers working in all 100 wards with effect from January 26, 2024.

A senior corporation official said that they issued the termination order as the number of dengue cases had gone down. But, due to the protest, they would revoke the order and reinstate them again.