Cleanliness is Godliness: But cleaners are not!

Most of the time when I read my thoughts expressed on the blog I ask myself am I a pessimist? I am always complaining about things and discontented. But, then they all are part of my life, something that I always felt and wanted people to know about. They are not positive or negative but only feelings. If at all they are pessimistic even then they root from my optimism that to eradicate a problem we need to realize it first. Moreover, it can be simplified as sensitive people complain more about the inadequacies; therefore I am happy to be sensitive.

I have spent six years of my life in Toxicology Research Institute. The Institute harbors scientists, research scholars, technical staff, the finance wing staff and the clerks. Officially the Institute functions only on the weekdays, but as research recognize no Saturdays and Sundays, so, it is practically open for 365x24 hours. Be it Diwali, Holi, Ed or Christmas one would always find the Institute open and the research fellows working.

I want to draw the attention to an issue of the cleaning staff required for the smooth functioning of the laboratory and their conditions. The experiments are performed on rats, mice, tumorigenic and normal cells using toxic treatments. Therefore, to me the issue was of utmost importance because on Fridays I made sure of all the dustbins being cleaned, so that I could work on the weekends, without bothering. One might think that the cleaning staff too deserves off like other permanent staff, but so is not the case. Firstly, the cleaning staff is not permanent; it is hired through an agency. The office timing is from 9:00 am till 5:30 pm but the cleaning staff reports at 8:00 am and on weekends they are engaged in the cleaning of the Institutional building rather than the labs.

Perhaps, they are the only people who are bound to work on all the days. Further, can you believe the wages they get for their work? It’s a meager Rs 4000-6000/month, where the contractor takes his share too. So, they sign for a higher wage and receive some Rs 1000-1500 less than the sanctioned amount. Whereas, my boss gets a pay of more than Rs 1,50,000/month with weekends off. There are no comparisons between the two as far as caliber is a concern, but one cannot deny the physical labor done. Both mental and physical work should be revered. It is a nightmare to work in a dirty lab and they give us the clean laboratories to work on.

My concern is not that they should be given a permanent job or not, but yes there work should not be underestimated and they should be paid accordingly. It is sickening that in a measure to meet its budgeting the Institute trims the cleaning staff. It is a pain to look at their condition. Once I asked one of my staff as to how much he gets paid? I was ashamed at his reply, he said, “jitni aapko pocket money milti hai.”

Its better not to mention the method of laboratory waste disposal and safety cautions taken by the staff involved in it.