Hamara Manch - Mukul Sinha interaction

    On 2nd Feb. 2013, I attended the public meeting organized by Hamara Manch for interaction with eminent lawyer and activist Dr. Mukul Sinha who is also an IIT Kanpur alumnus. The meeting was also attended by his wife Dr. Nirjhari Sinha who has been his partner in these efforts as well. They also participated in the Open House organized by Faculty Forum the next day (see this Hamara Manch update), I participated in both events on behalf of alumni associated with Citizens' Forum. Here is a brief account of the first meeting.

Hamara Manch interaction with Mukul Sinha, 2nd Feb 2013

    The scheduled time for the meeting was 4:30pm at Valmiki Mandir grounds. By the time it started (a little before 5:00pm) I could already count over 300 participants, almost all of them being contract workers. By design, there was no stage or mike (the speakers spoke from their positions, or from center of the crowd). There were about eight or ten chairs which were used by some elderly participants (again mostly workers), everyone else sat on the shabby carpets which were put on the ground for this purpose.

    The meeting started with a brief introduction (in Hindi) from a student. He explained that those workers who are new to Hamara Manch should be clear that the forum can neither help in getting work, nor can be a means for any immediate profit. It is also false, he said, that the middle class volunteers are participating in the process because they are 'great' or have a generous heart. Instead, the forum believed in equal rights and dignity for all, and it is for this reason they meet and work together. 

    With a very brief introduction of Mukul Sinha, he was handed over the conversation. In the long talk in Gujarati influenced Hindi he explained the situation of contract workers, mostly with respect to the law and his experience of trade unions in Gujarat. Here are the key points I gathered from his presentation:

• 1. He explained in detail the legal situation. Before 1970, several supreme court judgments had stressed abolition for contract labour and asked for direct employer-employee relations. Contract Labour Abolition and Regulation Act, 1970 however recognized this labour relationship. Even then, under pressures of the time there are several provisions stressing "abolition" in the law -- for example it is not allowed to engage contract worker in any perenial work (for example mess or gardening). "Regulation" is also stressed in detail -- for example there are laws about facilities at worksite (like restrooms, canteens, toilets), legal provision of basic wages and compensation in any incidence of injury or death. And all this is coupled with fixing responsibilities of principal employer even for labour hired via a contractor.

  2. Still, almost none of the provisions are followed in practice. Labour department works with the contractors, in fact by contracting out permanent work in recent times as at IITK, government is facilitating this in the biggest way.  In any case law is being made by those in power who have most to gain by keeping labour cheap, and beyond a point one can expect little from them. 

1. He stressed that 'globalization' is coming to India only on the promise of cheap labour, and the trend is therefore abetted by the government. In almost all the factories permanent workers are being substituted by contract workers. Gujarat is a case in point -- the chief minister has organized Global Economic Summits every two years which, he explained to the workers, is a "meeting of malik log". This year it took place only a couple of weeks back, and about 15000 people came - 3000 from Japan alone. The promises they come on includes cheap labour -- Gujarat ranks 13th amonst Indian states for the index measuring distribution of wealth to its labouring class (Bengal being on top). 

2. Hitachi, a Japanese company has an AC plant in Gujarat where all workers were on contract. Anguished by the lower wages, they collectively protested and struck work for six months -- the administration recently relented finally due to their collective strength, but also because it would have been a bad show-case for the then upcoming Global Economic Summit. About 300 workers at the factory have been made permanent now. This points out the increasing influence of 'globalization', but also the importance of collective protests. He stressed that IIT workers should lead by example, should form collective unions and demand permanent positions.

3. He also gave other examples -- eighty woman cleaners of NID being paid only Rs.5 a day in the nineties organized and fought for 7-8 years. Finally the case went till supreme court where they were made permanent (the court established a new category - part-time permanent). Similar thing happenned in PRL about twenty years back where workers won permanent positions through collective action [but Nirjhari (scientist from PRL and his wife),  pointed out that of late in PRL, like in IITK, all jobs are on contract].  

4. The bottomline is, he said, that there are lot of laws and rules one can use to advantage, but the only way they work is through collective strength. If we are weak we can be fired, but how many can they fire? Will we always remain a worker who has to struggle for even basic dignity? If we don't take a stand, we will always be slaves thus.

    His talk was followed by a brief commentary by a campus community member who thereafter led the discussion session. She lamented that only thing 'cheap' around them was labour, and stressed that those profittering on their expense, the likes of those organizing 'Global Summits', are very organized, and that the workers can fight for their rights only by coming together and trusting each other.

    In the discussion that followed several participants made general remarks or raised questions to Mukul. A student commented that poverty in IITK grows even as the campus is painted richer and brighter -- plight of Ram Sharan's widow being a case in point. It is therefore not merely a 'legal' issue here, but a more human one, and we must stand togther. Another participant inquired the technicalities of permissible delays in payments, explaining that his motivation came from withheld wages of mess workers in a hall. Another participant introduced himself as a mistri from Environmental building site, and summarized his ordeal. He said that Manch experience taught him how difficult it was to complaint, being 'slapped' and warned by the powers if they dared, but stressed that it is the way forward. A faculty member stressed that it is not important to merely ask for our wages, but also of our co-workers, and that by only asking for dignity for other labourers can we ensure our own. He pointed out that this collective action was the only reason of getting PF of late, or the safety practices that have lately begun. 

  At this point, Mukul said that the large and enthusiastic participation suggests that they are in a position to form a trade union of contract workers, and this may be the immediate way forward. He volunteered all help and the meeting concluded there. 

  In all the meeting lasted for about three hours. In the first fourty minutes itself, the crowd had swelled to about 350-400. In fact, given that several workers would have left the grounds in between for personal contingencies, I feel that at least 450-500 workers attended the meeting. Clearly, by participation it was a big success! Even the discussions were remarkably enthusing and detailed. Only time will tell how successful it was in the betterment of contract labour within campus in general or evolution of Hamara Manch in particular.

(Note: some names removed for web version.)