JNU Offers 70% License Fee Waiver For Shops at Campus, Denies Firing Any Mess Worker

Amidst the protest from mess and sanitation workers of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) over their delayed salary, the university administration on May 7, on its official twitter handle announced that it has not removed any workers. The administration also made other key announcement such as regarding maternity  leaves, and shop license.

The university tweeted saying,

While their were rumors that the mess workers have been expelled due to them protesting, in another tweet, the university said,

The workers on Thursday observed a sit-in protest at the office of Dean of Students against non-payment of salaries for three consecutive months. The workers allege they have been deprived of their salaries as the principal vendor did not receive his payments from the institution. They added that the new structure of work suggested by the JNU administration grants them only three days of work.

Meanwhile, the JNUTA on Saturday expressed concern over the ongoing strike of sanitation workers at the university and urged the administration to immediately resolve their problems and accede to their “justified demands”.

In a statement, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) argued that the “discriminatory and illegal treatment” meted out to contractual workers has worsened and no serious attempts has been made by the administration to resolve the ongoing crisis. The JNUTA said it was alarmed to see that “inhuman treatment” continues unabated under the new administration. “The continuing refusal to attend to the workers’ just demands also exhibits extreme callousness, as it targets those very workers who had put their lives and health at great risk to selflessly serve the residents of the campus when the pandemic was at its deadliest in the summer months of 2021,” the statement signed by JNUTA president Bishnupriya Dutt and secretary Sucharita Sen read.

The JNUTA also accused the JNU administration of being “unconcerned” as contract workers have been paid at unbearably irregular intervals over past few years. “Despite the fact that this is a blatant violation of the Payment of Wages Act, by which wages need to be paid by the 7th of each month, the JNU administration appears to be unconcerned about such wilful negligence by the contractor,” the statement noted. The JNUTA also pointed out that there had been a drastic cut in the number of workers during the lockdown period since 2020.

The association claimed that the current strength of the workers engaged in garbage collection and disposal work has been reduced from 42 in early 2020 to around 30 presently. “However, even after the campus has reopened, the number of workers has not been increased commensurate to the total workload, for both the sanitation and the mess workers. “There are reports of further retrenchment of mess and sanitation workers in the hostels even as they are reaching their full capacity,” the association said. The JNUTA strongly also condemned the ‘out-of-bounds’ order issued against Dr. Sucheta De, former JNUSU president and the current national vice president of AICCTU.

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