2018-03-08 : New Contracts in the Hall Messes

(Editor's Note: Also see 2018-02-02 : The Coming New Contracts in the Hall Messes: A Hamara Manch Update)

Dear friends

This Holi there was really something to celebrate. On the first of March new contracts commenced in all the 13 halls and we are really happy (and immensely relieved) to report that no workers have lost their job in any of the halls, according to our information. Some supervisory and managerial staff have been replaced but all the ‘unskilled workers’ have been retained. This really is a rare moment of relief and joy. And we believe this would not have been possible without the entire community pitching in – the students, several faculty members including some wardens, other community members and of course the solidarity of the workers themselves. But this has not been an easy task and many of us had been greatly concerned about this transition for months now.

In August, 2017 when we came to know of the new VH contract and analysed it, we had anticipated similar contracts in other services too. We had been able to pass on our concerns to the workers as well as other concerned community members and this is one reason why there has been such consistent support and mobilisation for all these months. As we had expected,  in October 2017, the new tender documents for messing services were floated in all the halls and a new model of running the messes was introduced (the Per Student Per Day model) which was on the lines of the VH contract. The entire process was supposed to be done by the first week of December and the new contracts were to be implemented on the 1st of January, 2018 – what a start to the New Year it would have been. And then there was the entire month of break in between when most students and faculty would not be there in the campus. But due to concrete analysis (done by several student friends), solidarity building exercises among workers, and the crucial support of the community (faculty, students, others) we together were able to stall the process. And finally in the HMC meeting, thanks to support from concerned wardens and HEC members, the PSPD model was rejected for this round of contract awarding process. A huge achievement indeed! More importantly, we have been collectively able to push through the idea that even if a contractor contractor changes, unless there is any specific reason to fire an individual worker, workers should retain their jobs. And this happened. There are over 700 workers in the messes, and without this process spanning over 6 months, there could have been a disaster of massive proportions. Instead we had an uneventful Holi – and the messes have continued to run smoothly even after the transition. A magical moment indeed – when no news is the best news!

There are important tasks ahead though,

• 14 VH workers still do not have jobs

• Workers in the messes are still working a 16-hour day.

• Workers are not getting adequate days of work – in most halls the workers are given forced leave of 8 days and some even up to 14 days.

The second and the third are related and can be solved simultaneously – a shift system would immediately resolve this issue without any excess workers. Together, we can and should definitely work towards that. And then there is also the danger of the PSPD model sneaking in so we need to be on our toes on that count too. But all this is for later.

Today let us CELEBRATE – Congratulations to all of us!

Hamara Manch