19 sacked staffers protest at Nimhans

19 sacked staffers protest at Nimhans

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  02.09.2021

Alleging that their jobs were illegally terminated at Nimhans, 19 hospital assistants have been protesting on the hospital campus for the past two months. Sixteen of them are women. Nimhans, however, claimed they were from an outsourcing agency and were not employed by the hospital.

Nimhans Pragathipara Workers Union said hospital assistants employed in the radiology department had demanded a night drop in July since night curfew was in force and those on the second shift got off work only at 9.30pm. “The second shift was only till 7.30pm but it was extended to 9.30pm making it difficult for the women to get back home,” said M Basava Raj, general secretary of the union. “When they demanded a night drop, they were removed from work.”

The women have been demanding that they be reinstated. They stage a dharna every day, condemning the institute’s move which has cost them their jobs.

While the union claimed 19 women lost their jobs, Nimhans said 16 workers who were outsourced from an agency were protesting, and the hospital had nothing to do with it. “All the 16 workers belong to Vinayaka Enterprises, the outsourcing agency. None of these persons are employed by Nimhans and the institute does not have control over these workers,” the institute said in its release.

Raj, however, said: “The agency entered into a contract with Nimhans only in 2017, but 16 of the striking staffers were recruited long before that.”

NO WORK: Employees who were allegedly terminated from their jobs at Nimhans protest outside the hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday