2011-11-17 : Unfair and Arbitrary Dismissal of Contract Workers is the Norm in IITK: The Case of Electrical Worker Vimal

(Related pages: Another case from Visitor Hostel.)

Unfair and Arbitrary Dismissal of Contract Workers is the Norm in IITK: The Case of Electrical Worker Vimal

    Vimal has been  fired from his  job.  For over a month before firing him, his contractor had kept him on baithiki (stay at home without pay). During this period of uncertainty, his family had also suffered the tragic loss of a child hours after birth.  Then, on October 31, the contractor formally fired him.

    Vimal has been an electrical maintenance worker in the Institute for the past three years, working through the contractor, M/s Kapoor Electricals. A skilled worker with an ITI diploma, Vimal has worked for his contractor sincerely and efficiently.  His contractor used to take him, along with several other workers, to the Minimum Wage Office where full payment at the semi-skilled rate used to be made to them.  In January 2011, this came to about Rs. 7000 per month.  However, the contractor would subsequently take back this entire amount and then pay the workers only Rs. 2500-3000 each.

    So what was Vimal’s mistake that led to his being fired from his job?  His ‘mistake’ was simply that he dared to ask for the entire amount legally due to him as wages, and in January 2011, he filed a complaint against the contractor in this regard with the Minimum Wages Monitoring Committee (MWMC).  At that time, the contractor immediately removed him (and the fellow workers who had complained along with him) from work with the excuse that currently he had no work to give them.  But when, after 3-4 months of constant uncertainty, these workers found that the contractor had hired some new workers to do the same work that they used to do, they filed a second complaint in the MWMC office.  MWMC found their complaint to be valid after due investigation.  As a result, not only were they taken back to work by the contractor, but Vimal and his co-workers also started receiving full payment, albeit at the unskilled rather than the semi-skilled rate. The other workers in the contract also started getting their due wages.

    But now the contractor began to regularly harass the workers who had complained.  Though they were experienced electrical workers, the contractor now asked them to do various other non-electrical tasks, ranging from masonry to digging.  At one point, when Vimal was asked to dig a 16 feet hole, he refused to comply.  Immediately, he was given baithiki and told that he’d be taken back to work only when he admitted his mistakes.  Vimal took them at their word, and gave the contractor a letter admitting that his mistake was to demand his full due wages and to file a complaint in this regard with the MWMC office.  The contractor’s immediate reaction to this was to fire Vimal from his job.  Interestingly, in an unprecedented move, the contractor actually issued an official termination letter to Vimal, in which the reasons stated for his removal included the claim that one semi-skilled position had been reduced in the contract, and since Vimal was the junior-most in this position, having worked for only six months, his services were no longer required by the contractor.  As will be evident from the facts stated earlier, the reasons given in this letter are blatantly false; not only had Vimal worked with the same contractor for three years, but since July 2011, he had been paid at the rate of an unskilled position (not semi-skilled). The contractor submitted a copy of this termination letter to the MWMC also.

    Interestingly, even though it is absolutely clear that the only reason Vimal was fired from his job was because he dared to complain to the MWMC office regarding unfair wage practices of his contractor, when he went to MWMC to complain again after being fired, he was categorically told that the hiring/firing of contract workers was purely the concern of the contractor, and that this committee could do nothing in this matter.

Vimal’s case clearly illustrates that:

• • If you are a contract worker in IIT Kanpur, then you have no rights.

  • Your contractor can fire you from the job whenever he pleases, and for no good reason.

  • Even if you receive one-third of the wages due to you, you cannot register a complaint.

  • If you have the audacity to complain, and even when your complaint is found justifiable, no action of any kind will be taken against the defaulting contractor.

  • If the contractor is forced to take you back to work under pressure, then within the next couple of months you will be fired under some pretext or the other.

    It is clear from the above that even as IITK celebrates its 52nd anniversary as a world-class institute, unfortunately when it comes to the situation of contract workers, absolute anarchy prevails on campus.  There are no formal rules / regulations in place, no transparent due process, and no accountability of any kind for the contractors, even though IITK as the principal employer is bound by law to ensure that these exist and are effectively implemented.  And as a result of this blatantly unfair and illegal situation, contract workers live in an atmosphere of terror, never sure of when, and for what reason, they may lose their livelihoods. Vimal had the courage to speak up even within this reign of terror, and the consequences of this bravado are now there for all to see.  At a time when his family is still recovering from personal tragedy, and winter is making its own demands, Vimal is without a job.

In light of the above, we demand the following:

• • Immediate reinstatement of Vimal

  • Punishment of the contractor for blatantly violating minimum wage laws

  • An immediate order from Institute authorities stopping such arbitrary firing by contractors

Hamara Manch