Prof Indranil Manna
Director
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur, U.P., India
Dear Prof. Manna,
We have very recently learned that the Institute has awarded the contract for management of Visitors’ Hostel (“VH”) to a new contractor. We understand that 72 of the 74 workers who have worked at the VH have been given the notice of termination of their services by the new VH contractor, retaining only 2 of these former 74 workers. We, as concerned alumni, are shocked and extremely concerned at this sudden layoff of 72 workers at the VH.
In the course of last many years, many of us in the Citizens’ Forum and indeed a lot of other alumni have had the opportunity of staying at VH and interacting with these employees. In each and every one of our experiences we found that these employees provided courteous and efficient services and further, that both alumni and non-alumni visitors have also attested to this fact on multiple occasions.
We acknowledge that IITK is within its right to award a contract to a new contractor who best meets the requirements. However, the principal employer of these contract workers remains our Alma Mater, and therefore, IITK must meet its obligation towards the responsibility that not only these workers receive proper living wages the law requires be paid to all contract workers promptly but also that they not be dismissed unfairly by the new contractor. For if the new contractor can dismiss the workers who have served the institute so well in the past, then how can any worker get fairness in the work place or fair wages, this arbitrary leverage being so big upon these vulnerable contract workers who have little reserve and no way to support themselves and their families, and can become destitute at the whim of their contractor?
How can the institute be well served by this socially destabilizing and reckless ways of any contractor? We do not want to see the rule of the jungle at our Alma Mater, and we hope and expect you agree with us. We want to see social justice and fairness towards all workers on our campus, and we hope that you are with us on that as well.
We, the concerned alumni therefore urgently request you to please investigate this situation and reverse the decision of the new contractor so that all 72 of these laid off workers’ contracts are reinstated with the new contractors and in accordance with and in the spirit and intent of the current Indian labour laws on contract workers.
We believe and I am sure that as a head of our alma mater you will agree that these workers are human beings, providing for their respective families and with the same aspirations for their children, as we the alumni of IITK have and the faculty of IITK does as well.
We also think you will agree with us that these workers are not mere entries in a spread sheet and must not be treated as chattel. These current VH workers have been serving the IITK community for over 8 years. Uprooting their lives will be devastating for them and a mockery of compassion and fairness that must be our goal for a new India for which IITK, we are sure you also agree with us, is an important institution.
We, the concerned alumni therefore urgently appeal to you to investigate the issue and try to find a satisfactory and a positive solution for both parties. Time is of the essence here, as we understand the new contractor starts work on September 1, 2017.
With sincere regards,
Concerned Alumni
Links
For more background on the planned layoff of VH workers at IIT Kanpur:
https://sites.google.com/site/iitkcfdevelopment/case-studies/punishments-and-dismissals/2017-mass
Updates
August 27, 2017
I have spent my mornings reading your messages and thinking about the workers who cared for us during our time on campus. We are currently preparing a formal packet to present these concerns to the administration because the people who served us deserve better than this sudden dismissal.
August 27, 2017
Seeing the momentum behind this fuels my resolve for the staff who have looked after us for so many years. Please know that your messages of support have reached the people who need to see them most.
Reached 100 supporters
August 27, 2017
72 Comments
I have only respect for the staff of Visitors Hostel including my recent trip as part of Alumni meet .They took such good care of my wife and I especially in the cold weather and we felt at home Dismayed at this action and trust it never happens
Firing the 72 workers of VH would be against the principles of professionalism and ethics. Rahul Pandey (B.Tech., IIT Kanpur, 1991 Graduate) (Former faculty - IIT Bombay and IIM Lucknow)
Passing the buck on to contractors for violating workers' rights has been the true and tried mechanism for absolving responsibility, from time immemorial, for unscrupulous corporations. That educational institutions also move to this modus operandi to divide society is appalling.
I have received excellent service at the VH during batch reunions. I find it disturbing that 72 out of 74 workers will be terminated after many years of service to IITK>
Sir, I request you to please investigate this situation and reverse the decision of the new contractor so that all 72 of these laid off workers’ contracts are reinstated with the new contractors and in accordance with and in the spirit and intent of the current Indian labour laws on contract workers.
I am a recent alumnus and of much less life or technical expertise than most here. The layoffs don't seem wrong in a business sense for an Institute having to cut corners to improve efficiency and reduce costs, but IITK was never just an institute. The canteen bhaiyyas, the gardeners, the dhobis, the SIS guards were never just workers. Cut off from the outside world we, the junta, connected and interacted with them at a personal level and they were very much part of the IITK family. This petition is proof of those emotions. I request the administration to intervene to ensure the present workers continue to be able to work at the VH as long as they can carry out their responsibilities satisfactorily.
Please work on resolving this issue between workers and administration
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Prof Indranil Manna
Director
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur, U.P., India
Dear Prof. Manna,
We have very recently learned that the Institute has awarded the contract for management of Visitors’ Hostel (“VH”) to a new contractor. We understand that 72 of the 74 workers who have worked at the VH have been given the notice of termination of their services by the new VH contractor, retaining only 2 of these former 74 workers. We, as concerned alumni, are shocked and extremely concerned at this sudden layoff of 72 workers at the VH.
In the course of last many years, many of us in the Citizens’ Forum and indeed a lot of other alumni have had the opportunity of staying at VH and interacting with these employees. In each and every one of our experiences we found that these employees provided courteous and efficient services and further, that both alumni and non-alumni visitors have also attested to this fact on multiple occasions.
We acknowledge that IITK is within its right to award a contract to a new contractor who best meets the requirements. However, the principal employer of these contract workers remains our Alma Mater, and therefore, IITK must meet its obligation towards the responsibility that not only these workers receive proper living wages the law requires be paid to all contract workers promptly but also that they not be dismissed unfairly by the new contractor. For if the new contractor can dismiss the workers who have served the institute so well in the past, then how can any worker get fairness in the work place or fair wages, this arbitrary leverage being so big upon these vulnerable contract workers who have little reserve and no way to support themselves and their families, and can become destitute at the whim of their contractor?
How can the institute be well served by this socially destabilizing and reckless ways of any contractor? We do not want to see the rule of the jungle at our Alma Mater, and we hope and expect you agree with us. We want to see social justice and fairness towards all workers on our campus, and we hope that you are with us on that as well.
We, the concerned alumni therefore urgently request you to please investigate this situation and reverse the decision of the new contractor so that all 72 of these laid off workers’ contracts are reinstated with the new contractors and in accordance with and in the spirit and intent of the current Indian labour laws on contract workers.
We believe and I am sure that as a head of our alma mater you will agree that these workers are human beings, providing for their respective families and with the same aspirations for their children, as we the alumni of IITK have and the faculty of IITK does as well.
We also think you will agree with us that these workers are not mere entries in a spread sheet and must not be treated as chattel. These current VH workers have been serving the IITK community for over 8 years. Uprooting their lives will be devastating for them and a mockery of compassion and fairness that must be our goal for a new India for which IITK, we are sure you also agree with us, is an important institution.
We, the concerned alumni therefore urgently appeal to you to investigate the issue and try to find a satisfactory and a positive solution for both parties. Time is of the essence here, as we understand the new contractor starts work on September 1, 2017.
With sincere regards,
Concerned Alumni
Links
For more background on the planned layoff of VH workers at IIT Kanpur:
https://sites.google.com/site/iitkcfdevelopment/case-studies/punishments-and-dismissals/2017-mass
Updates
August 27, 2017
I have spent my mornings reading your messages and thinking about the workers who cared for us during our time on campus. We are currently preparing a formal packet to present these concerns to the administration because the people who served us deserve better than this sudden dismissal.
August 27, 2017
Seeing the momentum behind this fuels my resolve for the staff who have looked after us for so many years. Please know that your messages of support have reached the people who need to see them most.
Reached 100 supporters
August 27, 2017
72 Comments
I am an alumunus of IME-MBA 2013-2015 batch and personally feel that such a mass firing of workers in VH is uncalled for, reason being that they have been serving with all sincerity and dignity. What are the criteria for such things need to be very clear and not obscure. Request that their services be reinstated.
I have only respect for the staff of Visitors Hostel including my recent trip as part of Alumni meet .They took such good care of my wife and I especially in the cold weather and we felt at home Dismayed at this action and trust it never happens
Firing the 72 workers of VH would be against the principles of professionalism and ethics. Rahul Pandey (B.Tech., IIT Kanpur, 1991 Graduate) (Former faculty - IIT Bombay and IIM Lucknow)
Passing the buck on to contractors for violating workers' rights has been the true and tried mechanism for absolving responsibility, from time immemorial, for unscrupulous corporations. That educational institutions also move to this modus operandi to divide society is appalling.
I have received excellent service at the VH during batch reunions. I find it disturbing that 72 out of 74 workers will be terminated after many years of service to IITK>
Sir, I request you to please investigate this situation and reverse the decision of the new contractor so that all 72 of these laid off workers’ contracts are reinstated with the new contractors and in accordance with and in the spirit and intent of the current Indian labour laws on contract workers.
I am a recent alumnus and of much less life or technical expertise than most here. The layoffs don't seem wrong in a business sense for an Institute having to cut corners to improve efficiency and reduce costs, but IITK was never just an institute. The canteen bhaiyyas, the gardeners, the dhobis, the SIS guards were never just workers. Cut off from the outside world we, the junta, connected and interacted with them at a personal level and they were very much part of the IITK family. This petition is proof of those emotions. I request the administration to intervene to ensure the present workers continue to be able to work at the VH as long as they can carry out their responsibilities satisfactorily.
Please work on resolving this issue between workers and administration
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I am an alumunus of IME-MBA 2013-2015 batch and personally feel that such a mass firing of workers in VH is uncalled for, reason being that they have been serving with all sincerity and dignity. What are the criteria for such things need to be very clear and not obscure. Request that their services be reinstated.