Contractual workers of the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) in Jadavpur started an indefinite demonstration on Wednesday to protest against the institute’s decision to lay off 51 of them.

The protesters, many of whom have been working as lab technicians over the past 25 years, alleged that they had been laid off without prior notice by the agency engaged by Vibha Tandon, the institute’s director.

Gautam Karmakar, one of the protesters, said that only 41 workers have been retained.

“When a tender is floated to engage a new agency, there is a retention clause by which the whole workforce is retained. This has happened earlier as well. However, the director did not opt for the clause this time. We were told about the lay-offs on Tuesday night,” said Karmakar.

Calls and text messages by Metro to Tandon on Wednesday went unanswered.

Indian Institute of Chemical Biology is a biomedical research centre. It was inducted under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1956.

Most of the institute’s scientists and students support the protesting workers.

“We have heard that the institute authorities did not apply for the retention clause while floating the tender. Many of these technicians are extremely skilled workers,” said a scientist.

The director has told the protesting employees that she would speak to the agency again, sources said.