24/03/2021
STATEMENT ON THE PROPOSED RETRENCHMENT OF OUTSOURCED STAFF
Under the ostensible purpose of reducing OH 31 expenditure IISER mohali Administration have taken up a policy of retrenchment of the outsourced staff employed by the institute. Several workers have already been asked to stop coming for work. In retaliation the workers of IISER Mohali have been protesting relentlessly in the past few days. The IISER Mohali Workers have been demanding for a complete rollback of retrenchments. The protests have gathered support from a large section of the student community.
The tender IISER-M/Housekeeping & Horticulture Services/2021-2 dated February 18, 2021 (available on the official website of IISER Mohali) is issued in accordance with the policy decision. The present tender compared with the previous one (dated 2018) has seen a reduction of 32 workers which accounts to about 22% of the total workforce.
This autocratic move from the administration is a testament to the fact that they regard these essential workers as expendable and superfluous. The ease and haste with which the administration tried to implement these inconsiderate policies signifies how little attention they pay to the consequences their decisions will have on the livelihood of these minimum wage workers who have lended their service to this Institute for years. It is also important to note that the decision comes at a time ravaged by pandemic which has disproportionately affected marginalised communities. These workers are an integral part of the IISER community and as attested by the recent times their service is indispensable for maintaining the health and well-being of the campus community. Almost all of these workers belong to very under-privileged sections of society and earn only a minimum wage working a job as essential and laborious as theirs. The IISER administrations cannot and should not downplay their tryst with the Neoliberal policies of the government under the innocuous tag of “minimisation of expenditure” when it has the potential to end livelihoods of the very people who ensured the proper functioning of the Institute. Besides, these critical times mandates impeccable cleanliness and sanitation, reduction of number of workers will lead to degradation of the conditions of the Community and will severely burden the already overworked and insufficient workforce.
It must be stated here that the workers’ union of IISER Mohali ““IISER Contract & Other Employees Workers Union Mohali” is a registered organisation as of January 19, 2018, under the Trade Union Act, 1926. Thus far the Administration have not engaged in a formal discussion with the Union and have instead resorted to verbal negotiations with the workers. Following the protest that sprung up, the administration had tried to negotiate with the workers and gave verbal assurance to roll back few of the terminations and help the remaining retrenched workers find job elsewhere.The workers however have rightly rejected this proposal and have decided to continue their struggle until the demand of complete rollback of all terminations is met, unconditionally. The overwhelming support from the student community for the ongoing protest of which they have not only lended support but has become part, is the embodiment of the democratic ethos this institute stands for and which the Administration had willingly desecrated through this callous policy. Moreover, The Director has as of yet not only refused to engage in a democratic dialogue with the workers, but has issued memorandums to faculty members who extended their support to the protest. This sets a dangerous and Condemnable precedent which should alarm the entire campus community. We have always preserved a free atmosphere in this Institute conducive for civil disagreements and difference of opinion and threats to that decorum should be taken seriously and resisted vehemently.
We strongly condemn the autocratic attitude of the administration in this issue that has important consequences for all the stakeholders in the campus - students, faculties and workers. We demand that a fruitful dialogue is initiated very soon between the Workers’ Union and the administration and retrenchments be rolled back completely. We stand in solidarity with the protesting workers and students and support their struggle for upholding an environment of empathy and democratic functioning. We appeal to all the members of the IISER Community to support and stand alongside the workers in these trying times.
