2011-07-06 : Hamara Manch Update [Uncleared Dues case, Charade of Wage Payment]

(Note: Edited to remove names. Related Pages: Appropriation of daily wages, EPF, ESI and Workers' Cess)

Hamara Manch Update 6th July, 2011

    We came to know of two blatant cases of workers' exploitation in Hamara Manch meeting on the 6th of July. We have been interacting with workers for several years and yet it seems we would never cease to learn something new about the forms of exploitation of workers in this Institute. Hamara Manch did give some suggestions to these workers but it is not included in this update; we are merely reporting what was told to us by the workers about their cases.

Uncleared dues worth Rs 1.5 lakh of a worker

    Mr A., who works as a Tower crane operator for Freyssinet Prestressed Concrete Limited, came to Hamara Manch meeting on 6th July. The company apparently is setting up a lab for the civil engineering department. Mr A. was employed on 11th November 2008 at a monthly salary of Rs 9000/-. His immediate supervisor was transferred in July 2010 and a new engineer Mr V. came in his place. But shockingly Mr A. has not received his salaries since March 2010 – it has been 17 months till date.

He had got some advances amounting to only Rs 9000 for all these months. His total dues at present are around Rs 1.5 lakh! Mr A. has been depending heavily on support from home for his expenses.

    Mr V. (Mr. A.’s supervisor) was also transferred in May 2011 and at present Mr A. is the only employee of the company in IIT Kanpur. Before leaving Mr V. wrote a letter to the parent company detailing Mr. A.'s dues for 14 months (from March 2010 to April 2011) and asking them to release the money. He gave a copy of the letter to Mr. A.. But it has been over 3 months since then and the company has not paid up. On June 15th 2011 Mr.A. wrote an application addressed to the Superintendent Engineer of Institute Works Department (IWD) seeking the Institute’s intervention to clear his dues from the company. But surprisingly the SE refused to accept the application and turned him away stating that he cannot do anything on this matter. This is particularly startling given the fact that the company has material worth several lakhs in the Institute premises (which Mr.A. is supposed to take care of) and also monetary dues and pending payment worth several lakhs.

Charade of Wage Payment

    Three workers of M/s Kapoor Electricals, a contractor handling electrical maintenance in the Institute, approached Hamara Manch with their complaint. One of them has been working with the contractor for 6 years and the other two for over a year and a half each. All of them were employed as helpers – i.e. were attached to Mistris. Two of them have ITI diplomas. 25 workers are employed at present with this contractor. In January 2011, 5 of them were told that there was not enough work and hence they should come back to work after a month. When they went back at the decided date they were asked to come back again two months later under the same pretext. This has been going on month after month. Actually one of the 5 workers met with an accident on his way to the Institute, and died a few weeks back.  But recently they came to know that the contractor has hired a new person. When they went to the contractor to ask why he had hired a new person when there was a shortage of work – they were not given any satisfactory answer.

    According to these workers they have been marked by the contractor since September 2010 when they had come to attend the meeting of Hamara Manch organized for a visiting alumni, Mr Raj Sahay. Their contractor had hauled them up after that. The workers though were able to wrench some dues like forcing the contractor to register them for ESI, get proper cards, etc. But ultimately they could not retain their jobs and were removed in this roundabout way.

    But what was even more shocking was what we came to know about the farce of wage payments. None of the workers working with the contractor are paid their legally due wages – their actual wages range from Rs 2500/- to Rs 3000/-. But an elaborate charade is done prior to that. Apparently the workers are taken to the wage office and made to sign on wage slips and then after that were forced to return the money and their real wages are paid later. For example one of the workers whose actual wage was Rs 2500

was given and made to sign on a slip stating his salary to be Rs 7,770/-. Another worker whose actual wages is Rs 3,200/- used to sign on a slip Rs 7,200/-. Further often the whole Rs 2,500 is also not given because money is deducted for leave taken, but in the wage office they are always shown to have perfect attendance of 30 days. Not all the workers are taken to the wage office either –only a select few, the rest have no formal record in the wage office.