The students and faculty of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) staged a sit-in protest in favour of janitorial staff and demanded that the administration directly hire the workers instead of subcontracting their employment.
The protesters lamented that the administration had been exploiting the lowly-paid workers for years.
A statement issued after the protest said “we believe that the current situation of the janitorial staff has deteriorated to such an extent that only direct employment can improve their condition, as the state of the classroom staff is far better as acknowledged by the janitorial staff.”
However, the LUMS administration has, so far, refused to listen to constant cries for justice from students, faculty and staff for the last 10 years, as well as the report published in March 2020 of a committee made in 2019 exclusively to investigate the issue of subcontracting, the statement added.
The report mentioned that subcontracting was not necessary, and that permanent contractual employment was the solution to the issue, the statement read.
In August 2021, it was revealed that the LUMS administration had hired a new subcontracting company, dismissing the findings of the committee consisting of legal/labour experts, LUMS professors, anthropologists altogether.
“We intend to once again, present the findings of the 2019 committee and refresh the administration’s memory about information that has already priorly been provided by well researched, trusted individuals. The students of LUMS also demand a well-detailed timeline from the LUMS administration, specifying the process of discussion,” the statement issued by the protesters concluded.
