Protests by ESI hospital outsourcing workers

Secunderabad: Around 200 outsourcing workers of ESI Hospital staff nurses, medical record maintainers, sweepers, pharmacists, lab technicians along with All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) members staged a protest outside the Directorate of Insurance Medical Services office, Bhoiguda, on Wednesday. They demanded immediate payment of wages.

Around 1,090 outsourcing staff in ESI hospitals, dispensaries were not given salaries for the past eight months. The workers insist that if their demands are not fulfilled within this week, they would go on continuous strike from November 22.

They also demanded that women outsourcing workers must be given 35 days causal leave and 5 days special leave. "Whenever they have questioned officials about not clearing salaries, they say we have not received a contract extension," said M Narasimha, state secretary of AITUC.

"We are completely dependent on wages and how can we manage our families without wages? The higher officials are not paying any attention to our woes," deplored Renuka, a nurse of ESI Hospital, Jeedimetla.