Housekeeping Staff’s Protest Continues, Lawyers Gautam Bhatia and Colin Gonsalves Address Workers

As of Saturday, 6th September 2025, Ashoka University housekeeping staff’s protest continued, moving into its ninth day. A meeting took place on Friday, 5th September between the workers,  Workers’ Grievance and Welfare Committee (WGWC), Professor Sandeep Sen, Dean of Faculty, and other concerned faculty members. Still, the workers continue to sit outside, with supporting students, until their demands are met. 

As part of a series of student-organised public talks, celebrated human rights lawyer and Supreme Court advocate Colin Gonsalves spoke at 4:30 p.m., followed by a session at 5:00 p.m. by constitutional lawyer, law scholar, and author of The Transformative Constitution Gautam Bhatia. 

In his address to the workers, Gonsalves encouraged them — “If you have any doubt, clear it. Because you are going to win, you will win.” He spoke of the disparity between the workers’ salaries being around 12,000 rupees, while the student fees are close to 12 lakh rupees. Speaking to the crowd, when he asked for workers who had been fired because of stealing allegations, Reena* raised her hand and spoke of her experience, “Sir, they did not give a show-cause notice. They removed us without any evidence. I told them to give evidence, and they did not listen.” She added,“It has been almost ten days of us sitting here, students sitting here with us. They are not even listening to them.” Gonsalves replied that it is essential for the workers to form a union to advance their cause and advocate for their demands. 

In his talk, Bhatia spoke of the benefits of raising an industrial dispute in a court of law, namely that the university cannot take action against the employees while the dispute is underway. 

Following his address, in an interview with The Edict, Bhatia spoke extensively about the legalities of the issue at hand. When asked about the university and BlueSpring's claim that workers were being paid the Haryana government-mandated minimum wage, he explained that the minimum wage represents only the bare minimum threshold under the Constitution. He noted that this stands in contrast to the idea of a fair wage, which is meant to let workers “live a dignified and decent life,” while the minimum wage is legally defined as the amount needed to “keep body and soul together.” While acknowledging that “minimum wage is a constitutional right,” he maintained that workers are still justified in demanding a fair wage. 

Bhatia elaborated —“When the kind of work you do is so integral to the functioning of the organization the university in this case you have been working for years and your work is daily, and then if you were to outsource to a third party it's what what we call a sham contract the the real employer is the university the real employee are the workers and you interpose this body in the middle to evade obligations.”

When asked about the legality of BluSpring withholding the protesting workers’ pay for the days they have been on strike, Bhatia told The Edict that it is a “grey area”, as there is no "constitutional right that you have to strike." He further explained that under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, a dispute is raised first, and if it remains unresolved, a legal strike can then be called. He added that the best way to deal with this situation of withheld pay is to argue that the workers are not on strike. 

Bhatia also emphasised the importance of a trade union, stating two main benefits: they give stronger leverage through collective negotiations and make it easier to raise industrial disputes than what an individual worker can manage alone.

In the evening, an email was sent by the administration to parents about the protest, stating that they “are hopeful to reach a solution soon” and assuring that “services and facilities on the campus are functioning seamlessly with the support of additional staff. We are working tirelessly to ensure that the student experience, academic and beyond, is not impacted.” On Monday, 8th September, workers will resume work and be at the protest site in shifts, while students plan to remain outside in solidarity. 

*Pseudonyms have been provided to these individuals to preserve their anonymity. 

(Edited by Anamta Husain and Madiha Tariq)