12 contractual workers at AIIMS sacked for demanding minimum wages

The sacked employees, who worked as class IV staff, alleged that they were also manhandled by police when they raised the issue with the hospital authorities.

According to the Delhi Hospitals Contractual Workers Union, the private company Sudarshan Facilities Pvt Ltd has been given the contract for hiring housekeeping staff for running the services at the AIIMS Trauma Centre.

When the employees demanded that they should be paid minimum wages as per the law, the hospital administration called the police which in turn manhandled the workers.

The workers then took up the matter with the Labour Commissioner.

"Next day, the services of the 12 employees were terminated," said Dr Animesh Das, President of Delhi Hospitals Contractual Workers Union.

The contractual workers union has also written a letter to the Director, AIIMS in which they have alleged that the Sanitary Inspector charged money for allotting duty to them, compelled them to perform the work of Class III staff, like OT technicians and computer operators, delayed payment of wages and used abuse language and sometimes even beat them up.

AIIMS in a statement said even though the sanitation and housekeeping staff is not directly employed by it, once it was brought to their notice, they held several meetings with the company officials to sort out the issue.

"But some 5-6 employees created a ruckus one morning at trauma centre and instigated 100-150 other employees to go on flash strike. They also attempted to disrupt the very important emergency services at the trauma centre. This was immediately brought to the notice of the company, which later also lodged a police complaint in this regard.

"We dont come in between the company and their employees, but certainly will appreciate that in the best interest of patient care, we would want uninterrupted sanitation and housekeeping services at AIIMS trauma centre," Dr Amit Gupta, additional medical superintendent of AIIMS Trauma Centre said.