Job loss fear grips Corpn employees

Published Date: 18-July-2009
G Saravanan

Chennai, July 17: A SENSE of job insecurity is gripping the 28,000 corporation staff, as the civic body proposes to do away with over 500 different posts from its various departments including health,family welfare, mechanical and revenue as part of its drive for administrative reforms to reduce its financial burden.

According to a leaked dossier on the civic body’s proposed administrative reforms, the corporation is likely to abolish most of the posts from the mechanical, health, family welfare, bus route roads, Council, education, parks, revenue, solid waste management and storm water drain (SWD) departments. Atleast 1500 employees may lose their jobs or promotions in this drive.

Though these employees would not be asked to leave the Corporation, they might be forced to accept new posts and follow systems of work. A union leader, who requested anonymity, said: “Unable to create more avenues of revenue generation in the civic body, higher officials are now attempting to reduce the workforce under the guise of administrative reforms in an attempt to lessen the financial burden.”

According to information available with Express, many of the posts in the corporation have just remained in the list of ‘sanctioned posts’ for years and not been filled yet.

This has increased work pressure on the available staff, who are forced to to collect and compile details for several free schemes, which include free CTV, flood relief, marriage assistance, maternity assistance, election duty, and population census besides their regular work at office.

For example, of the 116 sanctioned posts in the mechanical department, the civic body proposes to kill 102 posts which includes assistant engineer, junior engineer, head motor mechanic, cleaner, carpenter, petrol bunk operator and watchman. The ironical part is that most of the posts in mechanical department were not filled upto the sanctioned strength yet.

Likewise, the Corporation has a labour welfare officer post, but it has been lying vacant for the past 23 years.“Our officials are setting a wrong precedence in the civic body and it will lead to nowhere,” another union leader remarked.

Tension is brewing among employees as the corporation’s ‘Appointment Committee’ led by the mayor M.Subramanian discussed administrative reforms issues along with senior officials a few days ago and the mayor reportedly gave a green signal to the proposal.

Irked by the development, a section of employees affiliated to the ruling DMK’s Labour Progressive Front met the mayor on Friday and handed over a memorandum appealing him to turn down the proposal to safeguard employees’ interest. The mayor confirmed to Express that he had received such an appeal from the corporation’s employees. He assured them of re-consideration with respect to several important posts.