Report by correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee (MEC)
Workers in all sectors across the country are facing increasing attacks on their livelihood and rights. They are trying to get organised and form unions to fight for their rights. The four labour codes passed by the central government and the changes in labour laws introduced by various state governments are aimed at depriving workers of this right, by making it extremely difficult to register unions and even more difficult to go on strike.
These were the opening remarks of Shri Santosh Kumar of Mazdoor Ekta Committee (MEC), in his presentation at the meeting organised on 15 August, on the topic: Increasing attacks on workers and the challenges before us.
The meeting was attended by representatives of workers from diverse sectors representing the growing work force in our country at this time. They included IT employees, garment workers, beedi workers, weavers, waste segregators, domestic workers, health workers, nurses, ambulance workers, automobile workers, transport workers, gig workers, safai karmacharis, headload workers, railway track maintainers, signal and telecom workers, teachers in universities, and workers of many other sectors. Workers from these sectors addressed the meeting and spoke of the problems faced in each sector as well as of the need to unite on a common platform to advance their demands.
The meeting was conducted by Ms Sucharita of MEC. Welcoming all the participants, she called upon Shri Santosh Kumar to make the presentation on behalf of MEC.
Shri Santosh Kumar drew attention to the struggles of IT workers, workers in the transport and health sectors, banking and insurance workers, railway workers, colliery workers, teachers and many others, for an eight-hour working day, for security of livelihood, for a dignified living wage, against the increasing use of contract labour, for safe working conditions and for social security benefits such as pension, provident fund, etc. He gave examples of IT giants such as TCS and Microsoft, which have been throwing out tens of thousands of workers.
These attacks on workers’ rights are being justified by the government in the name of ensuring “ease of doing business” for the Indian and foreign capitalists. However, as Santosh Kumar pointed out, what is good for the capitalists is precisely the opposite of what is good for workers and the rest of society. The program of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation, relentlessly pursued by the central and state governments, has led to increasing enrichment of the biggest Indian and foreign monopoly capitalists, while it has meant ruination of the peasantry and small producers, ruthless plunder of our natural resources and destruction of the natural environment. The privatisation of public sector enterprises has resulted in large-scale retrenchment and increasing workload on the remaining workers. The privatisation of public services such as railways, transport, electricity supply, health and education is making these services increasingly unaffordable for the vast majority of working people.
Through the introduction of the four Labour Codes, the central government wants to legalise these attacks on the workers. According to these Labour Codes, workers employed in an establishment which has 40 or less employees, or for a labour contractor who employs 50 or less, have no rights whatsoever. They can be made to work for any number of hours every day and thrown out of their jobs at any time. While the central government has not yet been able to implement these labour codes in the face of our stiff resistance, many state governments have already begun enforcing changes in their labour laws, to legalise 12-15 hours of work per day, fixed term contract, denial of sick-leave and maternity leave, lower wages for women workers, night-shift work for women without any provision for their transport and security, denial of the right to organise unions of our choice and to go on strike, etc.
Santosh Kumar called upon all workers to further strengthen our unity and escalate the struggle against all attacks on our livelihood and rights, with the perspective of establishing worker-peasant rule in place of the rule of the capitalists. This alone can guarantee our dignity and well-being, he concluded.
Representatives of workers from different sectors addressed the meeting. They all emphasised the need for all sections of workers to unite on a common platform to resist the growing attacks on their livelihood and rights.
Shri Pawanjit Mane of the Forum for IT Employees (FITE) described how the TCS management puts immense pressure on employees to quit their jobs – confining them for 2-3 hours without access to their mobile phones, to extract resignation letters from them. He spoke of the work being done by FITE in organising IT workers to fight for their rights, including in the state Labour Courts. The challenge is to make the IT workers conscious of the fact that they are workers and to organise to fight for their rights, he concluded.
Professor Debaditya Bhattacharya of Jamia Millia Islamia University highlighted the attacks on the rights of teachers. The National Education Policy 2020 is going to intensify these attacks, he pointed out, through a process of closures and mergers of institutions, mass digitization and distance learning. State funding for public universities and colleges is being drastically cut down, leading to a huge cut-back in the number of teaching and non-teaching jobs. Teachers are increasingly being employed on temporary contracts, with no job security and no social security benefits. Teachers have to be conscious of their status as workers and organise to fight for their rights, he emphasised.
Moumita Chakrabarty, an activist of Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), spoke of the declining income and deteriorating conditions of women beedi workers, weavers, waste segregators and domestic workers. They suffer from low wages, insecurity of jobs, hazardous conditions of work and constant attacks on their dignity. Ms Chakrabarty expressed her hope that by coming together on a joint platform with workers from so many diverse sectors, their demands would be addressed by the government.
Shri Kumanan of Workers’ Union, Hozur, pointed out that the much-touted ‘skill development’ program of the government is aimed at intensifying the exploitation of the youth for enhancing capitalist profit, by making them work as apprentices and trainees, who can be thrown out at any time and do not have to be paid even the minimum wages stipulated by the government. Organising workers to resist this growing exploitation is the challenge before us, he said.
Ms Sasikala, President of MRB Nurses Union, described the terrible plight of the contract nurses, who have no job security and are paid less than regular nurses, for longer hours of work. They are denied even basic rights such as maternity leave and sick leave, she said. She emphasised the importance of nurses and health workers getting organised to defend their rights, in unity with other sections of workers.
Shri Subramani Armugam, representing the Federation of Indian Trade Unions (FITU), expressed concern at the increasing use of contract labour and fixed term employment, as well as the exploitation and discrimination faced by women workers.
Ms Sujatha Modi described how women workers in the garment and fashion industry are forced to work on fixed-term contracts, at wages as low as Rs 12,500-15,000 per month.
Professor Manbhanjan Meher highlighted the exploitation of guest teachers and contract teachers.
Thirunavukarasu, peasant leader from Thanjavur, Tamilnadu, described how insecurity of livelihood in agriculture is forcing peasants in large numbers to migrate to towns in different parts of the country and work in very difficult conditions, at extremely low wages.
The exploitation of contract workers in hospitals was described by Shri Vicky Kapoor of Dr Hedgewar Arogya Sansthan Staff Union, Delhi.
Other speakers included Shri Hanuman Prasad Sharma, Vice President of Lok Raj Sangathan; Ms Ranjana, editor of Vanitha journal; Advocate Rajendar Pathak; Shri JP Dubey of Delhi Kamgar Union; and Shri Prem Dasani of Bal Shiksha Vikas Samiti.
Shri Birju Nayak of MEC called on workers to rise above differences in caste, religion and political affiliation, and come together in the struggle against our increasing exploitation. He drew attention to the need to hit at the root cause of our exploitation, i.e. the capitalist system, and put an end to capitalist slavery.
Summing up the discussion, Ms Sucharita thanked all the speakers and participants for bringing out the problems faced by workers in different sectors. The challenge before us, she emphasised, is to unite all these diverse sections of workers on one common platform, to further strengthen our unity and escalate the struggle against all attacks on our livelihood and rights. The times are calling on us to use our combined strength to put an end to this condition of being an exploited class, by replacing the rule of the capitalists by workers’ and peasants’ rule, she concluded.