Redflag Union Protests at Ripon Building Seeking Seniority-Based Regularisation

Around 100 sanitary workers affiliated with the CITU's Madras Corporation Redflag Union staged a separate demonstration at the Ripon building on Thursday. The workers, comprising both permanent and contractual sanitary staff, gathered at the civic headquarters to demand that the municipal administration regularise their jobs based on seniority.

The stir took place alongside an ongoing demonstration by the Uzhaipoor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI), which has been seeking job regularisation for all sanitary workers who have completed five years of service. However, Redflag Union leaders noted that their approach and requirements differ from those of the UUI.

P Srinivasan, secretary of the Redflag Union, stated that the civic administration cannot be expected to make all staff permanent simultaneously. He explained that workers understand the corporation cannot regularise everyone at once, noting that an employee can only be made permanent when a vacancy arises, or when a staff member retires or opts for voluntary retirement. The union is therefore urging the civic body to grant regularisation to workers strictly according to their seniority as and when positions become open.

Srinivasan also highlighted that more than 100 workers from Zones 5 and 6 affiliated with the Redflag Union have been left without work. These workers were not reinstated after their employment contracts ended in July 2025, and the union is demanding that the civic body reinstate them into service immediately.

In addition to regularisation and reinstatements, the protesting workers are seeking weekly days off. The Redflag Union is also urging municipal authorities to repair battery-operated vehicles used for daily garbage collection, along with other vehicles assigned to civic staff across the city.

Meanwhile, the demonstration staged by the UUI entered its 15th day on Thursday. Holding demonstrations within the Greater Chennai Corporation premises, UUI organizers carried the national flag and raised slogans declaring that there can be no freedom without job regularisation.