Report by the correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
Workers in the multi-specialty Hindu Rao Hospital of North Delhi Municipal Corporation have been on an indefinite strike for their demands from 4 October 2024 under the leadership of Hindu Rao Hospital Employees Union.
The workers of the hospital gather in the hospital premises from 8 am to 1 pm, striking work and raising slogans in support of their demands.
The demands of the workers are as follows:
- There should be a salary hike as per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission;
- Bonus and dearness allowance should be given;
- Salary should be paid on time;
- Vacant posts in the hospital should be filled;
- The contract system in the hospital should be abolished and the workers working on contract should be made permanent.
The President of Hindu Rao Hospital Employees Union, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Parcha said that the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission were implemented in all government departments from 1 January 2016. But for the last 8 years, the workers of Hindu Rao Hospital have not been given a salary hike as per the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. Talk of salary increment is far-fetched when the workers are not even paid salary on time. This experience has been very discouraging for the hospital’s workers.
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Thakur said that along with the permanent workers in the hospital, exploitation of contract workers is also increasing continuously. The workload in the hospital is increasing day by day as the number of workers required to handle the various tasks are decreasing year by year. But the government is not ready to fill the posts left vacant due to retirement of workers.
Only two or three workers are retained to work in a ward that used to have six workers previously. Many times, the work of three wards is carried out by just two or three workers. The government recruits for vacant posts through private agencies. It hires workers on contract. In collusion between private contract agencies and the government administration, the number of contract workers is shown to be higher on paper, while in reality the number of workers employed is less than that. These contract workers are being made to work for more than eight hours but paid minimal wages. In this way, exploitation and loot of workers is being increased.
In the existing capitalist system, government institutions also loot and exploit the labour of workers, just like private institutions. Workers will have to unite and struggle to achieve their rights.