“We are well aware that the service provided by the sanitation workers pertains to the lives of every citizen of Mumbai. However, we have been forced to take these drastic steps owing to the BMC and the Maharashtra government," said the Safai Municipal Kaamgar Action Committee in a statement issued on Wednesday.Opposing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Rs 4,000 crore tender that seeks to rope in private contractors to carry out collection and transportation of waste, the BMC’s sanitation workers are set to launch a strike with the final decision to be announced on Thursday. The decision to call a strike was finalised in a vote carried out on July 15, where at least 97 percent of sanitation workers voted in favour of a strike.In what seeks to completely overhaul Mumbai’s waste collection and transportation system, the BMC–in a tender floated May 14–has proposed a plan that seeks to outsource the entire work of collecting door-to-door waste as well as clearing garbage lying in the open while also transporting the civic municipal waste collected to the disposal or processing facilities. The tender seeks to privatise the system of waste collection in 22 wards wherein private contractors will be given charge of providing the new waste collection trucks, drivers as well as staff for collecting the waste.At present, this waste is collected through the BMC’s own body of permanent as well as contractual conservancy workers while the waste compactor vehicles are hired and run through contractors.The civic plan has drawn flak from municipal labour unions who fear that the appointment of private contractors will jeopardise the jobs of permanent as well as contractual conservancy workers–including over 7,000 motor loaders. Since June end, the labour unions have convened public meetings to air their concerns while the BMC has continued to go ahead with the tendering process. The BMC has maintained that the existing sanitation staffers will be rerouted towards carrying out sweeping in the second shift.In a bid to gauge the sentiment of all sanitation workers, the labour unions in Mumbai on July 15 carried out a voting drive to determine whether to call a strike.According to the Safaai Municipal Kaamgar Action Committee, at least 8,850 sanitation workers participated in the voting drive where nearly 8,665 or 97 percent workers voted in favour of a strike. Meanwhile, 93 workers voted against the strike while 12 votes were considered invalid.The committee is now slated to stage a protest at Azad Maidan on Thursday where they will take the final call for a strike. For the record, the deadline of Rs 4,000 crore tender bid is slated to close on July 18.Story continues below this ad“We are well aware that the service provided by the sanitation workers pertains to the lives of every citizen of Mumbai. However, we have been forced to take these drastic steps owing to the BMC and the Maharashtra government,” said the Safai Municipal Kaamgar Action Committee in a statement issued on Wednesday.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd