Here’s how DMK backstabbed sanitation workers protesting for jobs

New Delhi: A police crackdown on sanitation workers staging a peaceful sit-in for livelihood rights has triggered outrage across Tamil Nadu, with critics accusing the ruling DMK of abandoning its pro-worker pledge. The action followed a court directive and led to the detention of hundreds, including women, elderly workers, and long-serving daily wagers. Videos circulating online show exhausted protesters collapsing and being dragged away by police, intensifying public anger across the state.

The timing and tenor of the operation have sharpened attacks on the government’s credibility. The DMK, which campaigned on the message “We stand for workers,” now faces allegations that it has betrayed that promise once in office. 

“One face before polls, another after power”

Opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami accused the government of double standards, arguing that while the DMK staged protests at the slightest provocation while in opposition, it has either stayed silent or used police force against genuine worker struggles since coming to power. He also pointed out that during the 13-day protest the administration neither opened talks nor addressed the core grievances, calling the shift “visible hypocrisy.”

Announcements without answers

In the hours after the crackdown, the government unveiled a cluster of welfare announcements, free breakfast, housing support and insurance cover, but left out the central demand for regularisation and permanent government jobs. Worker groups and activists dismissed the move as “window dressing,” saying packages that dodge the main issue only add insult.

“Promises made, promises broken”

The anger is anchored in long-pending demands. The DMK’s 2021 manifesto had promised permanent jobs, fair wages and safe working conditions for sanitation workers. Three years on, many say little has changed. Regularisation is still stuck in litigation; civic services continue to be contracted out despite repeated assurances, eroding job security; and government orders on minimum pay are flouted on the ground, leaving thousands underpaid. 

Chennai’s cleanliness report card slips

The controversy has also thrown a harsh light on Chennai’s civic performance. Once celebrated as among India’s cleanest metros, the city has slipped to 38th place in the Swachh Survekshan 2024-25 rankings. Officials estimate 6,500 tonnes of garbage are generated daily, yet door-to-door collection reaches barely half of households. Functional public toilets have fallen from 77 percent to just 33 percent, with neighbourhoods such as Nungambakkam facing piled-up waste well into the afternoon. While Indore retained a 7-star rating, Chennai failed to secure even one.

Mayor R. Priya defended outsourcing, saying privatisation is the only way to keep the city clean. But with 10 of 15 zones run by private contractors, worker unions say the results are damning: jobs have been lost, wages have fallen and standards have slipped. Several workers who once earned about Rs 23,000 now report surviving on roughly Rs 15,000.

“We want jobs, not tokenism”

For many sanitation workers, the dream of stable employment has given way to deepening insecurity. The flashpoint, union organisers say, is not a lack of schemes but the absence of permanent posts with protections, the very safeguards that could prevent delays in pay, arbitrary cuts and unsafe working conditions.

“Announcing schemes without tackling regularisation is missing the point,” a union leader argued, urging the government to end the impasse by starting structured talks and laying out a clear timeline.

What the standoff reveals

Law-and-order vs livelihood: The police action, though preceded by a court directive, has become the face of the government’s response to a socio-economic crisis at the bottom of the civic chain. The optics, fatigued workers being hauled away, have undercut the administration’s messaging on welfare. 

Policy drift on regularisation: Outsourcing remains the default in Chennai’s sanitation services despite repeated assurances to the contrary, a model that unions say weakens bargaining power and depresses wages. 

Credibility gap: The slide in cleanliness metrics and service delivery is now intertwined with the treatment of the people who keep the city running, hardening public perception that proclamations have outpaced performance. 

The road ahead

The government’s welfare push may ease immediate pressure, but the confrontation is unlikely to ebb until the two sides address the central dispute: secure jobs, fair pay and safer conditions for those who do the city’s dirtiest work. Absent movement on regularisation, unions are expected to regroup, while the opposition will keep the heat on the DMK over what it calls a “before-and-after” gap between promises and governance. 

For now, the images from the protest, and the questions they raise, have made one thing hard to deny: the people who clean Chennai’s streets are carrying both the city’s waste and the weight of unkept promises.