The sanitation workers of Chennai waged a 165-day-long historic struggle against the DMK government’s corporate policies and privatisation drive and have emerged victorious. The struggle began on July 31st with the outsourcing of solid waste management in Zone 5 (Royapuram) and Zone 6 (Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar) of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to the private contractor Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited. This decision put the livelihoods of nearly 2,000 workers in jeopardy. The workers, backed by the UUI–LTUC–AICCTU trade union alliance, launched a massive protest outside the GCC head office, which drew national attention. The threatened DMK government unleashed a wave of repression, brutally beating and detaining nearly 1,000 protesters.
But the workers did not back down. They immediately regrouped and carried out various other protests. They protested at the memorial of former Chief Minister and DMK leader Karunanidhi, held a protest next to the funeral of Ravi (a sanitation worker) who committed suicide due to these policies, and, as part of their protest, waded into Marina Beach and stood waist-deep in the highly polluted Coovum River. All these actions were met with massive police detentions and violence. The DMK employed every shady tactic to undermine the struggle, from running negative social media campaigns against the workers and activists to attempting to distract them with nominal welfare schemes. Despite this, the workers stood firm and launched an indefinite hunger strike in coordinated batches at the LTUC Ambattur office, lasting up to 57 days, forcing the government to bend to their demands. Minister Sekhar Babu, who had earlier dismissed the struggle and made arrogant remarks, now came rushing to their office with a shameless smile and announced that the workers’ jobs would be reinstated under the GCC, thus declaring the naked defeat of privatisation in front of the workers’ resolve.
It was once again proved that no mighty government or state repression can stop the people, the people united shall always be victorious!
