The solid waste management workers (SWM) under the BMC had called off their strike after the administration accepted their demands on Tuesday. The municipal union had warned for indefinite against the BMC proposal of hiring single agency on contract for waste collection, transportation etc in Mumbai.
The SWM workers are against privatisation of waste disposal services and demanded regularisation of contractual workers, benefits of all cleaning staff in BMC, including in hospitals and Deonar abattoir under the category of 'sweepers' and assurance that the existing SWM labourers will not loose their jobs.
"The BMC has scheduled posts of 31,000 sweepers, of which 8,000 are on contractual basis while some are vacant. In the meeting on Tuesday, the commissioner also promised to fill the vacancies," a labour union member said.
"We cannot interrupt in the administrative decision of tendering, hiring private agency. We demand that in the process, our labourers should not loose their jobs as well the contractual workers should get permanent. The BMC Commissioner has accepted our demand to abide to 2023 state government resolution of recognising all garbage cleaning staff as 'sweepers'. They will also be considered for house ownership. If in future, we feel that the private agency is affecting BMC SWM staff employment or rights, we will fight for it," said Municipal Union General Secretary Ramakant Bane.
Despite strong opposition and strike threats from labour unions, the BMC had proceeded with the bidding process for a “service-based” waste management system in May. The plan will outsource cleaning and transport in all 21 wards to private contractors.
Mumbai generates approximately 7,000 tonnes of waste daily. To manage this, around 1,334 vehicles are deployed some owned by the BMC, while the majority are provided by private contractors.
Currently, the BMC operates on a hiring-based contract model where contractors supply vehicles on a rental basis, while all other waste management operations are handled directly by the civic body. Only four wards—L (Kurla), M East (Govandi), and M West (Chembur)—use municipal vehicles, as these areas are closer to the Kanjur Marg and Deonar dumping grounds.
