Members of CITU and VCK addressing the press in Madurai on Tuesday.

| Photo Credit: G. Moorthy

Demanding to annul the dismissal order of 23 corporation workers, Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi workers union have announced an indefinite strike from October 21. Addressing the press here on Tuesday, M. Balasubramanian, CITU general secretary, said that though the workers fought only for their rights, the contract company, in addition to denying the workers’ due compensation, had also dared to sack them. “The company has made it a practice to threaten the protesting workers by either suspending them or cutting their wages. Though the workers are protected by the labour rights, the company seems not to be respecting or fearing them,” he added. When the 23 workers – 17 drivers and 6 workers – questioned the company for reducing their salary and against other discriminatory practices, they were immediately sacked, Mr. Balasubramaniam said. Though the workers organised a series of protests and submitted petitions to register their opposition, both the contract company and the corporation did not pay any heed to them, he stated. The company had not just disregarded the workers’ plights but had also disrespected their rights enshrined in the Constitution, he said. He said that all the workers should be given 8.33% of their salary as Deepavali bonus. He alleged that the company had only been paying a part of the workers Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for more than 18 months now.“More than ₹60,000 that should have been paid in the workers’ EPF accounts was withheld by the contract company,” he said. Even when all the issues were raised several times with both the company and the government, both had not cared to initiate any action to resolve them, he added. “Though we have decided to observe a strike, keeping in mind the welfare of the public at the time of festival, we are to start our indefinite strike from October 21,” he said. The strike which would start on the day after Deepavali would continue until all their demands, including reinstatement of the sacked workers, were met, he said. Published - October 07, 2025 06:27 pm IST