Security workers at Ashoka University, along with many students, gathered outside Gate 1 on 8th March, 2025 beginning at 6 a.m. to protest against a sudden monthly salary cut of Rs. 3000 (approximately 18%), removal of 18 yearly privileged leaves (PL), and bonuses.
By 11:30 a.m., both G4S Secure Solutions India Pvt Ltd (G4S), the third-party contractor that hires Ashoka's security workers and the university administration agreed to put the salary cut on “hold.” They met the two demands: to reinstate the previous salary range of Rs.16,000 to 16,500 per month and to take no legal action against the protesting workers.
Timeline of Events
The Ashoka University Student Government (AUSG) informed the student body via email on 7th March that the workers’ salaries will be reduced, effective this month. The overall bonus of Rs. 10,000 to 11,000, which they receive every Diwali, was to be redistributed to their monthly salaries. After they received notice of salary cuts on 28th February, four workers were called to the G4S office and asked to submit their phones before the meeting.
One security officer was offered a promotion as a bribe to accept the new salaries. Upon refusal, G4S reportedly threatened him with immediate dismissal and the workers were warned of further salary cuts if the new agreements were not signed, claimed AUSG in the email statement.
A source within G4S told The Edict that the company has been associated with Ashoka University for the past eight years and committed Rs. 11,552 per person/month towards workers’ salaries, in accordance with Haryana’s minimum wage laws. The source alleged that the remainder of the salaries, approximately Rs. 5,400 per person, was arranged by the university as site allowance till February 2025.
Many universities aligned with a third-party security provider have a 12-hour working system. This system provides workers with an option to work four additional hours everyday, for a higher salary.
According to the AUSG email, working hours in Ashoka were reduced in 2018 to 8-hour shifts with the same (12-hour) salary, added PL/CLs and a yearly bonus. Since the working hours were decreased, the university allegedly paid a site allowance to G4S and supplemented the otherwise minimum wage rate of Haryana.
It is unclear if the university provided security workers with site allowance before 2018. The Edict reached out to Mr. Ganesh Khatri, Head of Security and Mr. Hafeez Khan, Branch Manager Sonipat, G4S for their inputs on the same. Mr. Khatri has declined to comment on the matter and we are yet to receive a response from Mr. Khan.
When the contract with G4S was to expire in 2024, the university submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the security vendors in India, said Aditi Warrier (ASP’25), President of the AUSG, who learnt about this during a meeting with Himanshu Sachdev, Vice-President of Operations, last week.
The source within G4S also pointed out that the RFP was followed by a contract bid in December 2024 where many other security companies such as SIS and Peregrine, bid lower than G4S’s Rs. 5,400 for the university’s site allowance. G4S also lowered their bid to Rs. 2,800. Two companies with the lowest bids were selected externally and presented to the university.
Ashoka, Warrier said, picked the company with the better reputation of the lowest bids, which was G4S. A decrease in the site allowance might have contributed to the reduction in the salary by Rs. 3,000. After the protests today, The Edict has learnt that the university is looking for ways to pay approximately Rs. 5,000 to Rs 5,500 as site allowance for each security worker.
Workers The Edict spoke to reported various estimates for the site allowance, ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 5,500. It is difficult to gauge the exact amount because the salaries of each worker are different. A breakdown of the salary with the pay cut after availing a PL or CL is not mentioned. “There is no fixed amount. The monthly salary range is between Rs. 16,000 to Rs.16,500,” a worker said.
In a statement to The Edict, Media Ashoka said that “Ashoka University is compliant with all hiring and compensation regulations and guidelines. There are no job reductions or salary cuts for any employee working with the University”. They added that the matter was discussed with the “outsourcing agency partners” and resolved amicably.
Protests today
The Edict interviewed various workers who said that they knew about the reduction in salaries a month before the notice was released on 28th February. They waited until 8th March to protest so that the salaries for February were not delayed or withheld. Workers receive their salaries on the 7th of every month.
To protest against the reduction of salaries today, Shift C workers whose working hours end at 6 a.m. gathered outside Gate 2 at 6:20 a.m. Shift A workers, whose working hours begin at 6 a.m., refused to enter the campus and waited until all security personnel had exited. Along with some students, around 70 to 80 workers marched towards Gate 1 with five demands.
Razeen Ayesh (UG’26), Secretary of the United Students Front (USF) and member of the Workers Welfare Committee told The Edict that the demands included impunity for all protesting workers, reinstatement of the previous salary and the yearly bonus, drafting a supervisor's code of conduct, and implementing the grievance redressal committee (GRC), which will also include CASH (Committee against Sexual Harassment).
As the protest progressed, the workers unanimously decided to stick to only the first two demands, which were met by 11:30 AM, said Ayesh.
With only two demands met today, Ayesh is keen to work more explicitly on workers’ welfare. “This was an important win for us,” she said, noting that it is imperative to maintain a channel of communication between the workers and the students.
After the protests today, Ayesh believes it would be easier to keep track – not just of work within the departments, but also supervisor code of conduct and the implementation of the GRC, which has already been established.
A worker highlighted that the Workers Welfare Committee of the AUSG has collected the details of workers who participated in the protest today so that protection can be provided if representatives of G4S issue arbitrary transfers or firing of workers.
Insha Husain (UG’26), an undergraduate council member and a student who supported the protest said that while the administration’s response, was prompt for today’s protest, it does not reflect a systemic change.
Husain echoed Ayesh’s concerns about working towards implementing a GRC and a supervisor’s code of conduct in the near future to protect the workers.
The workers The Edict spoke to reported mixed feelings. While happy over demands being met, they feel pressured to think twice about anything they do now because “they [G4S] are looking for excuses to remove us.”
Some workers also feared that because of the increase in site allowance, the contract with G4S might not be renewed next year. This, they feel, can lead to mass job losses.
(Edited by Vishnu Prakash and Madhumitha GI)
Comments