Shiny kitchens, starving workers: Amma Unavagam staff protest in Virudhunagar

They feed the poor for a living. They cannot afford to feed themselves. On Monday, workers of Amma Unavagam — Tamil Nadu's subsidised state canteen scheme — staged a protest in Virudhunagar demanding what they say the law already owes them: the daily wage fixed by the District Collector, and the permanent jobs the TVK government promised before the election. The demonstration, organised under the CITU banner, was inaugurated by Balasubramanian, the union's district general secretary for rural development local administration employees, and addressed by CITU state general secretary R. Balasubramanian. The Hindu reported the protest on Monday evening. The numbers at the heart of the dispute are stark. In April 2026, the Virudhunagar District Collector fixed the canteen workers' daily wage at ₹578. Six months later, the workers say they are still paid between ₹250 and ₹340 a day, varying from canteen to canteen — barely half of the Collector's order. They have been doing this work for twelve to thirteen years, since Amma Unavagam was launched in March 2013. Their second charge cuts deeper. The TVK fought its election on the promise that temporary and contract workers who had completed five years of service would be regularised. These workers have completed more than twice that — and are still on daily wages, still without job security, still without the benefits of permanent employment. The contrast with the government's own publicity is hard to miss. Chief Minister Vijay has in recent weeks ordered the renovation of Amma canteens — 620 across Tamil Nadu — a refurbishment drive covered enthusiastically by friendly media. Shiny kitchens, new tiles, fresh paint. The workers who stand in those kitchens have watched the renovation budgets flow past them while their own pay slips stayed frozen below the Collector's floor. This is not an isolated grumble. It is part of a pattern that has defined the TVK government's first stretch in office: more than 2,000 Greater Chennai Corporation sanitary workers recently staged a fifteen-day protest at Ripon Buildings for permanent employment — a demand raised on the Assembly floor by the opposition leader. Nurses were invited for talks and then arrested. Now canteen workers, twelve years into their jobs, are marching for wages the Collector fixed half a year ago. The TVK came to power promising a government of the worker. In Virudhunagar on Monday, the workers were in the street, asking for half of what the law says they are owed. The government has not answered them yet.