The contract workers of the Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI) staged a protest on Saturday over unpaid wages and discrepancies in the salaries due to alleged errors in the biometric system.

The workers, including sanitation staff, ward attendants, and security personnel affiliated with the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), gathered in front of the Dean’s office to press for their demands.

Ugra Narasimhe Gowda of Janandolanagala Mahamaithri and Sarvodaya Karnataka, who participated in the demonstration, said about 700 to 800 contract workers engaged by around eight different private agencies had not been paid their due wages for the last three months.

A statement issued by the AIUTUC’s Mysuru branch said there had been discrepancies in the salaries of the contract workers due to alleged errors in the biometric system. The workers were demanding immediate payment of the pending wages and resolution of the discrepancies in the salaries.

Meanwhile, a notice issued by the MMCRI contract workers’ union to the Dean has sought immediate implementation of statutory benefits, leave facilities, pending wages, arrears of provident fund, and salaries of the outsourced workers employed at the MMCRI.

The union alleged that the private agencies that had outsourced the workers were creating job insecurity by depriving them of basic facilities and denying minimum wages, employees’ State insurance, employees’ provident fund, holiday pay, and other safety equipment as prescribed for the outsourced workers.

It also pointed out that the minimum wages for the workers of urban local bodies should be applied to the outsourced sanitation workers employed in colleges and hostels. For those who work in canteens, mess halls, and care centres for mothers and children, the minimum wages fixed for hospitals and the nursing home industry should be applied. Similarly, the security personnel working in all the institutions under the MMCRI should be provided with the minimum wages fixed for the security agency industry.

As the wages paid for the last ten years had been lower than the amount prescribed for the above-mentioned scheduled industries, the differential arrears of wages should be paid either by the contractor or by the MMCRI, the union demanded.

It further demanded that the outsourced workers be provided with necessary uniforms, safety equipment, besides a washing allowance of ₹1,000 a month.