TN Nutritious Meal Workers Begin Indefinite Strike Today

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu nutritious meal workers have launched an indefinite strike on Tuesday demanding the government to solve their long-pending demands including staff shortage, bad service conditions, and inadequate wages and social security benefits.

The nutritious meal scheme is implemented for students in government schools across the state and more than one lakh balwadis. The scheme employs organisers, cooks, and cooking assistants, forming a critical support system for schoolchildren, particularly from economically weaker sections. However, the workers' association pointed out that more than 65,000 sanctioned posts have remained vacant for several years, significantly affecting the scheme’s efficiency.

Due to the prolonged vacancies, a practice has emerged in which food is prepared at one centre and supplied to two or three nearby centres. This has increased the workload and mental stress on existing workers, who are required to manage additional responsibilities without corresponding support or compensation. Workers have been staging protests in recent months, seeking government intervention to address these issues.

The workers have listed more than 10 demands, including regularisation of service with time-scale pay, provision of minimum pension with family security, gratuity on par with other government employees, and timely increments and allowances based on experience and performance. Other demands include the extension of paid maternity leave equivalent to that granted to women government employees, as well as a fixed allowance to cover travel expenses incurred during training programmes conducted in nearby districts and in Chennai.

The announcement of the indefinite strike comes amid a series of protests by government employees and contract workers, temporary teachers, making labour-related issues a significant point of discussion in the State’s political landscape. Earlier protests by sanitation workers seeking permanent status have already drawn widespread attention, and the planned strike by nutritious meal workers is expected to add to the pressure on the government.

The workers have indicated that most nutritious meal centres are unlikely to function during the strike period, potentially affecting students across government schools. The workers have also planned district-level protests on January 24, 25, and 26, followed by a mass rally in Chennai on January 30.