NIT-C contract staff launch indefinite agitation

Hundreds of contract staff at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C), including those engaged in sanitation and security sections, have begun an indefinite agitation outside the campus as they are about to lose their jobs in the wake of the recent changes in their employment criteria.

T. Viswanathan, Kozhikode district vice president, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), on Thursday opened the indefinite agitation launched by a joint platform of trade unions.

Many are expected to lose their jobs because of the contractor’s decision to change the maximum age of employment from 60 to 55. The services of some others could be terminated because of the new contractual provision that 30% of the security staff should be ex-servicemen and 10% of them should be women. Quite a few are on the verge of losing their jobs because of the reduction in staff strength in certain sections.

Activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M] on Thursday took out a march from the nearby Kattangal to the main gate of the NIT-C, extending support to the striking workers. P.K. Premnath, CPI(M) Kozhikode district committee member, inaugurated the march. The police stopped the CPI(M) activists near the main gate.

According to sources, cleaning of rooms and clearing of waste on the campus have been affected for the past three to four days because of the ongoing agitation. On Monday, some of the staff who are facing job loss blocked some people who had come to attend an interview conducted by the contractor. The sources said they were marked absent in the attendance register when they went back to join duty. They have not resumed work. On Thursday, the security staff too joined the strike.

Meanwhile, a section of students under the banner of a ‘students’ commune’ came out with a press release offering support to the workers. They pointed out that the recent student protests and action against the contract staff originated from the unilateral decisions and misuse of power by a few people in the administration.