Call of the Women’s Wing of North Central Zone Insurance Employees’ Federation
(English translation of Hindi leaflet)
Protect the slipping legacy of International Women’s Day!
Today, 12 hours of work day have been normalized. People working for 16-17 hours are dying (women workers of E&Y and HDFC in Lucknow exemplify this). In the rape and murder case of the doctor in Kolkata, it was found that she had been working straight for 36 hours… Several known and unknown cases like this are indicating that the legacy of International Women’s Day has been slipping from our hands like sand.
On 8 March 1857, women workers of a clothes factory, without any organization, stopped their work and came out on the streets of New York with anger filled with pain and desperation. They did not accept working for 12-14-16 hours in deplorable workplace conditions and with low wages.
The entire world was shocked to see workers oppose employers (because there were no trade unions at that time).
A few brave women had shaken the pride of the rulers. The angered rulers sent the police to beat them up, but history took a different turn.
The spark of this incident in 1857 lit the fire of workers’ struggles for their rights across the world, resulting in workers achieving 8 hours of work and many other rights.
The working class should never forget that working hours, cleanliness and safety of workplaces, appropriate wages, social security (pension-gratuity), rest and all other benefits are related to the owners’ profit. We should also not forget that the owners (capitalist class) themselves never forget this relation.
It is ironic that the working class has forgotten this and is happy with a handful of benefits. This has allowed the capitalist class to start planning a way to regain their lost sources of profit.
The grand combination of the new economic policies (privatisation, liberalisation, and globalisation) and the politics of division has upturned the entire system.
We can see that the powers that glorify their superiority based on caste, language, region, religion, race, and gender remain silent on issues such as unemployment, increasing hours of work, deaths under unsafe working conditions, and lack of social security. They constantly try to establish that these are not real issues or that these are less important issues, whereas these are the very challenges we have to deal with every day. For these powers, working on contract/outsourcing/daily-wage basis for 12-14 hours every day without any rest and earning only Rs. 8000-10,000 a month is not an issue.
It is difficult to imagine where the rulers found the courage to shamelessly announce the destruction of all labour laws. Permanent employment and pension have become things of the past. Future workers actually have no future left. Despite this, there has been no stir in the country, which indicates the numbing of workers’ consciousness. Our consciousness has been misled, the issues we take up are only those that the capitalist class and rulers of our country want us to.
In these dark times, it is very important to understand the “internationalism” of “International Women’s Day.” It was only when workers the world over primarily identified themselves first as “workers” that we were able to achieve all rights. Without the broad unity of the masses, workers are getting transformed into slaves. This unity is our ultimate objective.
We see that capitalists across the world are not divided based on caste, religion, region, language, nation, gender, or race. They go where there is profit, undertake negotiations and agreements, loot the masses, and exploit the workers.
Indeed, the conditions today are very bad, but,
Hope and desire may be two separate words,
But they collectively shape the story of the world.
The Women’s Wing of the North Central Zone Insurance Employees’ Federation appeals to all comrades to enthusiastically celebrate International Women’s Day and enrich the legacy of this day.
North Central Zone Insurance Employees’ Federation (Women’s Wing)