Workers’ Rights Part 4
The Conversation in a Nutshell
Speakers Pratibha Varsha Bhargavi Nodeep Kaur Umesh Rishi Shubhash Bhatnagar Raj Kumar Dubey Shreya Ghosh Moderator Chandan Kumar Grounded Voices Team
Contents Speakers
6
Context for the conversation
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Garment Industry Workers
| Pratibha
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Construction Workers
| Subhash Bhatnagar
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Industrial Workers
| Nodeep Kaur
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Independent Workers’ Unions
| Rajkumar Dubey
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Migrant Workers
| Varsha Bhargavi
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Coal Mine Workers
| Umesh Rishi
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Migrant Workers
| Shreya Ghosh
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Final Words
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We are at a point in history where state repression and violence against dissenting voices have become a daily occurrence. While these have been building over years, so have people’s struggles to achieve justice for historically oppressed communities and people discriminated against and marginalized on grounds of class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity, ability, gender, sexuality etc.
National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), while supporting all people’s struggles against oppression, acknowledges the invisibilization of many voices and assertions, which are often not part of the ‘mainstream’ conversations and spaces. We want to be able to listen to experiences, analysis and demands for justice and social transformation which come from individuals and groups whose participation in and valuable contributions to ‘the larger conversations’ is essential.
Across the country, regressive and disenfranchising state policy, often passed off as ‘public interest’ measures, is being opposed by movements resisting authoritarian regimes and committed to upholding the rights of the working classes, protecting the environment and securing social justice, with social security for all.
The Grounded Voices series of talks is an attempt to bring to us voices which are grounded in lived experience, struggle and organizing, to ask together questions about what matters to understand the moment we live through and imagine an equitable, inclusive and just future for all citizens.
Speakers
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ratibha, Garment and Textile Workers Union, Karnataka
ratibha is currently President of the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU), a trade union registered under Trade union Act fighting for garment workers’ rights with the employers, governments and also with international brands. A former garment factory employee herself, she has been organizing garment workers across Karnataka for the past 20 years.
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arsha Bhargavi, Telangana Child Rights Protection Forum arsha Bhargavi is a feminist and a labour and child rights activist, and a gender sensitisation trainer based in Telangana. She is State Advisor, Telangana Child Rights Protection Forum and former State Coordinator for Telangana State Resource Centre for Elimination of Child & Adolescent Labour, Labour Department, Govt. of Telangana. She has also published on issues of child rights and labour and is an active member of the Women and Transgender Organizations, Joint Action Committee, Telangana.
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mesh Rishi, Coal Mines Mazdoor Union, Jharkhand
N N
odeep Kaur, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Haryana
odeep Kaur is a Dalit labour rights activist, coming from a family of activists in rural Punjab. She is a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), a union of industrial workers which fights for the workers’ rights in the Kundli Industrial Area. She has also been actively supporting the historic farmers’ protest, condemning strongly the discrimination and exploitation of industrial and agricultural workers.
mesh Rishi is a resident of Dhanbad, Jharkhand and has been active in the struggles for Jal-jangal-jameen, environment preservation, and the rights of dalit-adivasi coal mine workers in the region. He started his political journey through a Jaiprakash Narayan inspired student movement for affordable mess facility and was a part of JP Narayan initiated ‘Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Vahini’. After Jharkhand and Bihar’s separation into two states, he remained involved with Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch, Jan Kalyan Sangharsh Morcha, Moosarseva Sangh and Dr. Ambedkar Lok Utthan Kendra. He has been involved with several coal workers’ unions and is presently working with the ‘Coal Mine Majdoor Union’ and Paryavaran- Pradushan Niyantran va Van Sanrakshan Jagrukta Abhiyaan.
Conversation 15 | Workers’ Rights: Struggles Against the Pandemic and Labour Laws Dilutions | Industrial and Migrant Workers
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hubhash Bhatnagar, National Campaign Committee for Construction Labour ubhash Bhatnagar is a very senior comrade with the National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Workers, and has been working very focusedly on the issues faced by construction workers and have been one of the key people in the struggle towards the enactment of the Building and Other Construction Workers Act (1996). Subhash Bhatnagar is also part of Nirmana, a Delhi-based group, but also part of a broader platform of united unions.
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R R
aj Kumar Dubey, Century Satyagraha & Shramik Janta Sangh, Madhya Pradesh aj Kumar Dubey is part of the core committee of Century Satyagraha and of the Shramik Janta Sangh, in the Khargoan district of Madhya Pradesh. He has been active in the struggles of the independent workers’ union since the very beginning.
S S
hreya Ghosh, Migrant Workers Solidarity Network & Collective, Delhi hreya Ghosh is an activist, working with Migrant Workers Solidarity Network (MWSN). She has been associated with the workers’ movement for several years and with organizing of migrant workers. She is pursuing her doctoral research at Jawaharlal Nehru University and is President of the student organization Collective.
C C
handan Kumar, Working People’s Charter (WPC)
handan Kumar works with the Hamal Panchayat, an autonomous group of workers in Maharashtra and with the Working People’s Charter, a coalition of different workers’ rights groups. He is also part of the Jan Andolananchi Sangharsh Samiti, Mumbai.
Conversation 15 | Workers’ Rights: Struggles Against the Pandemic and Labour Laws Dilutions | Industrial and Migrant Workers
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Context for the conversation
Chandan Kumar, the moderator for the day, introduces the session by making reference to the Modi government coming to power with two clear agendas: reforms in Land and Labor. India has a long history of approx 98 years around its labor laws, starting with the 1923 Workmen’s Compensation Act. In 1926, the Trade Unions Act was brought in. The current regime wants to sweep away this 98 year old history, with its anti-workers, anti-farmers, and oppressive stand. They have already started work to this effect by passing 4 laws, in the Parliament, which now await for the rules to be designed towards implementation. As soon as these rules are in effect, they will erase 98 years of history, hard work and struggles of the workers, rendering the previous laws ineffective. While there continue to be protests in Delhi and across the nation against the Farm Acts, we are not seeing similar outrage or protests for the Labour laws. Most of the labour laws were designed either before independence or right after it, and are therefore set in a very different context. The laws around PF, ESIC etc were made in the aftermath of the World Wars, with those needs in mind. Conversation 15 | Workers’ Rights: Struggles Against the Pandemic and Labour Laws Dilutions | Industrial and Migrant Workers
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However, the open economy from the 90s was aggressively neo-liberal in nature and labour laws became redundant in this new context, almost inapplicable to the growing informal sector. According to 13 year old government statistics, 93% of the working population in India is part of the unorganized sector, and Chandan Kumar argues that this could have reached 9697% today. If the Labour Laws are not applicable to this 97% population, why would they protest? It explains why we are not witnessing a similar outrage with regards to the labour laws as in the case of the farm bills. This makes it imperative that Labour Law dilution becomes an agenda among Unions and social organisations, so that demands may be put forward to the government. It is distressing to see that the government has not addressed the workers’ ongoing crisis. Nowhere in the world have there been hundreds and thousands of people walking back to their villages without any livelihood support. It is a shame on the nation and its government that its citizens died walking on the streets, including women and children, and yet no course correction was done to mitigate the situation.
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Garment Industry Workers Pratibha
Pratibha begins to address the question of how the Labour Laws are likely to impact garment workers, some of whom are migrant, and the strategies she has been working with, to fight big garment brands involved in exploitation. Pratibha emphasizes the fact that the Laws are applicable to the organised sector and in this case to the garment industry but the workers, primarily women workers are unorganised. They do not get any benefits, and are rather exploited with no job or wage security. The fact that their lives are not impacted by changes in the laws, and continue to remain miserable, makes it difficult for the workers to organise or protest. However, it is the responsibility of unionists to think about how the laws will impact the workers, and take action.
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Conversation 15 | Workers’ Rights: Struggles Against the Pandemic and Labour
Grounded Voices | Industrial and Migrant Workers Laws Dilutions
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As an example, Pratibha explains how the limit for garment industries to shut their establishment without permission has increased from 50 to 300 workers. The garment industry is already in the habit of closing off units, without any compensation to the workers. Raising the limit to 300 only makes it easier for them to get rid of workers. The new Labour Codes also target workers trying to strike as a means to protect their rights. The new Labour Codes prescribe a process in which the management can go to the Labor Ministry and ask for conciliation, making any strike during that period illegal and thereby protecting the management. After the agricultural sector, the garment sector provides the highest employment, with a force of 35 lakhs workers in India (primarily in Delhi NCR, Tripura, Bengaluru and Chennai). In Karnataka, 4-5 lakh workers are employed in 1000-1200 14
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factories. Most of these workers are women coming from poor social and economic conditions, with minimal education and skills. Unionisation among the workers is very low, close to 2-3%, even though the Union has been around for over 20 years. The sector is the mirror image of patriarchal society, where women work under men and big garment brands like H&M, Gap, Adidas, Nike, and others. The workers were badly affected during the pandemic. Taking advantage of the situation, big brands closed factories without any support or compensation to the workers. Wherever the Unions were not present, the workers lost their jobs and went back home with no money. Where the Unions were strong, they fought for over 2 months so the workers received the benefits from the management. They are able to fight to ensure implementation of the laws for the rights and benefits of the workers.
The question is, if the laws are not there, then where does one go? In one of the units in Srirangapatna, Karnataka, the management closed the establishment illegally and in spite of the Union fighting through legal means, there was no response from the international offices. They hid behind legal terms and excuses. In their codes of conduct, international brands make false promises to protect human rights, encourage the right of association. All these are words and no action.
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In Karnataka, 4-5 lakh workers are employed in 10001200 factories. Most of these workers are women coming from poor social and economic conditions, with minimal education and skills. Unionisation among the workers is very low, close to 2-3%, even though the Union has been around for over 20 years.
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herever the Unions were not present, the workers lost their jobs and went back home with no money.
Construction Workers Subhash Bhatnagar
Shubhash Bhatnagar presents his understanding of the utilization of over INR 55,000 crores across the country. He explains that there are multiple complaints from the SC and the grassroots, that the money is not utilised, but in his opinion, that money is not for immediate utilisation. It is meant for the long term, for pension support to the beneficiaries. During the pandemic, the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board was able to transfer INR 500 crores directly into the accounts of 2 crores construction workers. Out of 10 crores construction workers working in the country, only 3.5 crores were registered. Out of these 3.5 crore workers, the data of only 2 crore workers was available to the Board. These received immediate support of a very small amount of INR 250. It was not a
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huge drain on money but it proves that systems and resources have been created, which can meet any social security needs or an emergency. Out of the 2 crore workers, 60-80 lakhs are in Uttar Pradesh and out of these, 20 lakhs received the benefit. In the second phase of the pandemic, about 65 lakhs have received the benefit of INR 1000/month. The BOCW Board has created a machinery which has the information of the workers and the resources to pay. This money, however, should not have been paid by the BOCW Board. There is a Disaster Management Fund available with all the State Boards and the money should have been provided from there. The real problem with the Labour Laws, Subhash Bhatnagar explains, is that our labour legislation has been designed for the organised sector, which forms hardly 5%, whereas 95% of the sector
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our labour legislation has been designed for the organised sector, which forms hardly 5%, whereas 95% of the sector is unorganised.
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After 12 years of hard work, much had moved in terms of infrastructure and resources. Then a new circular on 16th November, 2018 indicated that the government was bringing a new social security code, which would repeal the BOCW Boards. If the BOCW Act was to be repealed, how would the State Governments be expected to take the first step towards its implementation?
is unorganised. The National Campaign Committee, which met in 1985, came together to understand why the laws made for the organised sector could not be applied to the unorganised sector. There were two basic differences: the long term employer-employee relationship in the organised sector as opposed to the shortterm, ever-changing employeremployee relationship in the unorganised sector; and the permanent management team providing social security out of the wage fund in the organized sector, which did not exist in the unorganised sector. The unorganized sector needed a substitute for this team, but that understanding came later. This did not mean that laws did not exist for the unorganised sector. There was the Dock Workers Act of 1948 and Maharashtra Mathadi Workers Act of 1969, both designed for the organised sector. The understanding that it was the lack of management team laws like the ESCI Act emerged,
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along with the understanding that PF could not be applicable to the unorganised sector, only after the 1985 Committee. A tripartite board was conceived as an alternative, along with a corresponding law empowering it to collect money and provide social security. This was an achievement. The tripartite board should have played the role that the management played in the organized sector, managing the entire social security system. Unfortunately the BOCW Boards across the country have been functioning as minimum wage boards, intended to meet once in five years, to decide the minimum wage based on current prices, to be implemented for five years. The BOCW Boards need to function differently from the minimum wage boards, as they do in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, but not the rest of the country. Even getting the Boards running in all the States took 6 years.
After 12 years of hard work, much had moved in terms of infrastructure and resources. Then a new circular on 16th November, 2018 indicated that the government was bringing a new social security code, which would repeal the BOCW Boards. If the BOCW Act was to be repealed, how would the State Governments be expected to take the first step towards its implementation? The weakness that everyone in the Trade Unions should be aware of is that our country has more than 50 crore workers but ESCI covers less than 10% of them, approx 4-5 crores. Since the implementation of these laws has been so poor for the organized sector itself, why would the unorganised sector, who never received any benefits in the first place, resist? Very few have received the minimum wage. The BOCW Act cannot be removed or destroyed.
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Industrial Workers Nodeep Kaur Nodeep concurs with Pratibha that the workers are already facing extreme conditions which the Labor Code dilution would make worse. Even before the Labour Laws, people have been working for 12-16 hours instead of 8. Employers hold the power, can deduct salaries, children below 15 years are working, the gender wage gap is obvious. The Labour Laws are not a matter of the future, they are an existing reality. She argues that we need to work with women and youth to create a new cadre to lead the struggles in the future. People have been made slaves, they have lost their voice or even the belief that they can raise their voice. People’s confidence has been crushed, and as activists who are aware of their struggles, we need to make strategic plans to protect the rights of the workers. The activists, college-going youth, who are likely to become workers
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have to be prepared to understand the situation so they are able to take the lead. The irony is that on the 1st May program, we see big union leaders coming in cars to celebrate the day. The workers do not know its relevance. With the new Labor Codes, employers can remove workers, giving only a two-day notice. Nodeep mentions complaints from workers that they are being removed without notice or even without having their salaries paid. In the last two months, Nodeep has seen 50-60 workers removed from work. Nodeep reiterates that everything that the new Labour Codes are bringing is already happening with the workers, especially with women who are already marginalised. They have suffered the most. They are seen as ‘freelabour’. And yet their anger and resilience rooted in their everyday struggles will be a powering force.
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we need to work with women and youth to create a new cadre to lead the struggles in the future.
eople have been made slaves, they have lost their voice or even the belief that they can raise their voice.
heir confidence has been crushed, and as activists who are aware of their struggles, we need to make strategic plans to protect the rights of the workers.
Independent Workers’ Unions Raj Kumar Dubey
Raj Kumar Dubey opens by sharing that the new Labor Laws will cut off all the resources or mechanisms which were available by law to protect the rights of the workers. Big companies have started taking advantage of the laws which will be applicable to exploit workers. The government continues to create laws which work in favour of capitalists. As Unionists, it is essential to continue to struggle. He shares the example of their struggles against Kumar Mangalam Birla. That is a source of inspiration, keeping up their hope and energy. The laws will create severe conditions, and in this context it is important for different unions to come together. During the lockdown, the situation of the workers has been very difficult.
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Companies are saying they are not able to pay workers their due because of losses. The owners just need an excuse to exploit workers. Until we put forward a collective front, the workers’ struggle will not make a dent. Little attention is paid to the situation of contract workers. Nowadays, companies are using 75% contract workers, which is an unfair labour practice. The companies only aim to save money, through the exploitation of workers. More than the money, the benefits, protections and security net are crucial. Without them, workers cannot have the capacity to survive. Only working class unity can fight the oppressive capitalist laws.
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The [new Labour] laws will create severe conditions, and in this context it is important for different unions to come together. 23
Migrant Workers Varsha Bhargavi
Varsha Bhargavi opens by stating that the last lockdown has made it impossible to ignore the plight of the migrant workers in Telangana. One could tick off all the labour rights violations taking place at brick kilns. Living conditions are dismal and the situation is one of bonded labour. They had to file a PIL with the High Court last year to repatriate the workers to finish making the bricks. Before moving on to the new Labour Laws, it is important to also consider the ‘Ease of Doing Business’, a central piece of legislation forming part of Make in India. India suddenly jumped from rank 184 in 2014 to rank 63 in 2020 in the World Bank rating. ‘Ease of Doing Business’ is where the labour rights violations begin. It made it easier for business owners and entrepreneurs to
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set up shop. Reform no 200 in the EODB process clearly states that there should be a combined inspection of the 10 different Labour Acts. In 2014, when Telangana was a newly formed state vying for a high rank in ease of doing business, it introduced 29 government orders in favour of the employers, ignoring minimum wages, and the life of the workers. In brick kilns, for instance, a worker has to spend 7-8 months to create a certain number of bricks and during this period they cannot leave the place. Children are also confined to it. During the pandemic, when the on-site schools were shut, the children were stuck in the brick kiln, working along with their families, without wages. All kinds of violations take place in brick kilns. The seize rate is established so no worker can actually earn more than 30,000 INR in the period of 8 months, whereas the Minimum
Wage Act in Telangana stipulates that a worker should be paid 10,550 INR per month. On an average, a brick kiln worker gets paid 2,900 INR in a month. There are several deductions out of this: if a worker falls sick and needs to be taken to the hospital, the costs are taken out of their wages. The inspection process enables these conditions rather than keeping them in check. The Telangana Central Inspection System ranks all the factories as low, medium and high risk. The rating is not based on the conditions of working but the number of workers: less than 30 workers is considered low risk, even though it may have extremely poor conditions in reality. There is also a lottery system in place, so that only 3 inspections happen every month across a State with 33 districts and a total registered number of factories as high as 18,900. Prior to the inspection, the
Conversation 15 | Workers’ Rights: Struggles Against the Pandemic and Labour Laws Dilutions | Industrial and Migrant Workers
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‘Ease of Doing Business’ is where the labour rights violations begin.
n 2014, when Telangana was a newly formed state vying for a high rank in ease of doing business, it introduced 29 government orders in favour of the employers, ignoring minimum wages, and the life of the workers.
government issues a 15-day notice to the factories, rendering the process redundant. Legally, adolescents are prohibited from working in hazardous conditions. In practice, during the pandemic, in the absence of schools or the vidya volunteers, such work does take place. Many people were also sent away without wages. Most of the brick kiln workers are migrants from Orissa, with an unfair wage gap between the men and women who work there. There are no functional toilets at any of the brick kilns, where open defecation is the norm and an open area is provided to women for bathing, near a well or water source.
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Since brick kiln workers fall under the ambit of POSH, Varsha Bhargavi’s sangathan had filed an RTI with the District Collector asking the nature of the complaints they have received under POSH. The response from 18 districts showed zero complaints in 2015. This implies that the LCC is not being circulated in the unorganised work segment, child labor inspections are not taking place, not even those under the EODB inspection system. Organising the workers is a challenge especially in the pandemic, when the usual strategies do not work.
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During the pandemic, when the on-site schools were shut, the children were stuck in the brick kiln, working along with their families, without wages.
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he seize rate is established so no worker can actually earn more than 30,000 INR in the period of 8 months, whereas the Minimum Wage Act in Telangana stipulates that a worker should be paid 10,550 INR per month.
Coal Mine Workers Umesh Rishi Umesh Rishi comes from the coal region of Jharkhand. The picture he paints of today’s reality draws on his background: Agar har jagah koyle ki hi dher hai toh dhuli hui chadar kahaan bichhaye? (If there is coal everywhere around us then where can one spread a clean bed sheet?). Nowadays, the whole system is full of flaws and the federal structure of India is at stake, secularism is at stake, so is citizenship. When everything is in danger then where do the labour laws fall? In 1993, the Arthur Dunkel pact came into existence. Even then it was clear that the labour laws as well as the farmers’ and labourers’ rights would be compromised severely in the coming days. The current situation of the labour laws is the logical progression of those policies. The Yojana Aayog (Planning Commission) has changed into the Niti Aayog, so
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these policies were bound to suffer negative changes. The conditions of workers are regressing to what they used to be 98-100 years back. Those who are working in the bigger industries or in factories run by government institutions have forsaken the struggle of their fellow labourers for money. There is a clear divide between the labourers of the organised sector and the unorganised sector. The unorganised sector labourers do not get the benefits from the Labor/Trade Unions. The present situation is created intentionally, to show how the federal structure can be broken and all the laws can be amended as per the will of the corporations. It is the federal structure which inspires the workers to come together, and thus the divide between
the organised and unorganised sector has been possible only after attacking the federal structure. The current changes in the Labour Codes widen this divide further. In BCCL, in Jharkhand, systems have been created to keep the organised and unorganised labourers separate, unable to interact and thus unable to organise. Umesh Rishi was associated with Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) as a member and karyakarta, as well as with the Mine Mazdoor Union. He had to eventually leave both due to high interference and influence from the mafia. He then started another Union in 2004, called Coal Mines Mazdoor Union. The union is involved with a pending case from 1965 (Malik Mazdoor Audyogik Vibhag) and continues to maintain details of
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The unorganised sector labourers do not get the benefits from the Labor/ Trade Unions.
he present situation is created intentionally, to show how the federal structure can be broken and all the laws can be amended as per the will of the corporations.
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t is the federal structure which inspires the workers to come together, and the divide between the organised and unorganised sector has been possible only after attacking it.
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all the laborers who had been removed from their jobs with Coal India. In 1973, there was a Court order to reinstate these laborers and to pay 50% of their wages for the duration of time when they were removed. BCCL (earlier Coal India) misused its power and did not follow the order. They had Government support, while the Union continued its struggle by approaching different Courts and SC/ST Commission. The Commission finally wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary and to the BCCL management, demanding that the grievances of the labourers be addressed upon proof of identity. There have been numerous incidents where the labourers in the coal mines were thrown out and after completing all the legal proceedings they did not get any compensation or the reinstatement
of their employment. Going back to the BCCL case, Umesh critiques the failure of our legal structure, which acts as a grave threat to the federal structure of the country, leaving very little hope for the labour laws. The large unions in these companies lack vision. They are incapable of thinking about the future. They focus on addressing immediate benefits and lack foresight. Now there are hopes of groups like NAPM, which are fighting for the rights of farmers and labourers and the people of our country and that’s why the unions have been associated with it for a very long time.
Umesh mentions there are some coal mines which are burning and no efforts are made to address the problem. If the Constitutional systems were strong, the coal of this country, worth crores of rupees, would not be burning, wasted. The struggles of the workers are falling on the deaf ears of the government, legal systems and the corporations. By comparison, the times of underground mining, supplemented by agriculture, were safer times.
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Migrant Workers Shreya Ghosh
Shreya Ghosh begins with the memory of Anand Vihar last year, symbolic of the migrant crisis and the situation not being different this year. The government learnt from last year and instead of introducing a nationwide lockdown, there was a staggered lockdown, which allowed for interstate transport to remain open. Consequently, unlike last year when the crisis received a lot of media attention, this year the gravity of the situation was suppressed. The crisis was just as bad this year, but the government could wash its hands off of the crisis on grounds of transportation not having stopped and there not being a full lockdown. So, while the crisis was as deep, it was not as visible. Recent data shared by the Delhi
State Government shows 8 lakh workers who have left the State, butthis data only covers a few Bus Stands and only Government buses. The actual number of workers is estimated to be almost double. The way migrant workers have been portrayed also shows a significant shift. Last time, migrant workers were shown as a subject seeking relief. The perspective did not emphasize a political narrative, which it should have done. Over one lakh workers had protested around 4 major issues -- wage, ration, quarantine conditions, transportation. This was a political act through which workers demanded their rights as citizens of the country and yet it was not covered in the media. Media narratives continued to show them as subjects of sympathy.
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In 2020, migrant workers were shown as a subject seeking relief. The perspective did not emphasize a political narrative.
ver one lakh workers had protested around 4 major issues wage, rations, quarantine conditions, transportation.
his was a political act through which workers demanded their rights as citizens of the country and yet it was not covered in the media. Media narratives continued to show them as subjects of sympathy.
In the industrial sector, the number of migrant workers is constantly increasing and the number of migrant workers is also increasing alongside. This is linked to a policy adopted by companies, not to employ local workers, but to employ migrant workers instead. Without social support and a high likelihood of conflict with the local workers, their vulnerability increases and they are not likely to organize effectively. The companies have moved beyond permanent and contractual workers. They employ workers as ‘diploma trainees’ or ‘student trainees’, following a ‘hire and fire’ policy which provides no security. The permanent workers had some relief but the migrant and contractual workers have been made completely vulnerable. Earlier, even if workers migrated
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they had to be provided housing. There has been no development over the years on housing, education, PDS facilities for migrant workers. Migrant workers have absolutely no support mechanism or fallback option or resource in the cities. And the only option they have is to migrate back to their homes.
Final Words
The concluding part of the session also highlighted the need to think further of ways of organizing workers during the pandemic, since with the restrictions on movement, organizing is a challenge. Nodeep Kaur pointed out that we need to move from a focus on the economic to one on the political aspect of the laws, and ensure that the workers understand this. We need to approach workers to help their current economic needs, and at the same time work with them to understand the political nature of the laws. In response to Usha Seethalakshmi’s point, Pratibha agreed that Unions need to relook at their strategies. Since the 2000s strategies to engage with garment workers have needed to change. Workers tend to look at Unions at welfare systems, where they can get immediate support. Our Union strategies should evolve and be different from the Central Union as we
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work with unorganised workers who are anyway marginalised. We need to go to the workers and talk to them instead of them coming to us. The NGOisation of the Union also needs to be addressed. Finally, Umesh Rishi brought back the broader point of the challenges we are facing as a country, which put our rights, citizenship, constitutional setups at risk. Address the labour codes in such grave times is even more difficult. The responsibility or accountability towards the injustice does not lie with the Unions but the system and the State.
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