The Hindu : Mumbai workers in despair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 23, 2003

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Mumbai workers in despair

By Kalpana Sharma

MUMBAI Nov. 22. Pramila Gavkar's husband, 42 year-old Udhav, walked out of their home on the morning of October 5, 1999 after borrowing one rupee from her. He never came back. His body washed up on the beach and she found out five days later. This is just one of the tragic tales of the Mumbai's working class, of men who had secure jobs in the city's textile mills and other manufacturing industries but are today left without any hope for their future.

Pramila was one of several workers who testified today before the Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights at a public hearing on Corporate Accountability. The panel consists of two retired Bombay High Court judges, Justice S. M. Daud and Justice S. D. Pandit, as well as the editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, Dr. Krishna Raj, and advocate K. M. Gopakumar. In addition to testimonies from workers about illegal closures and lockouts and the denial of their dues, they will also hear about contract labour and its impact on women workers, the violation of investors and consumer rights and the impact of the privatisation of community resources on the environment over the next two days.

Udhav Gavkar's suicide four years ago illustrates the increasing desperation of thousands of workers in Mumbai who have had to contend with closures, lockouts, voluntary retirement schemes and unpaid dues. Pramila's husband worked with the shoe-manufacturing company, Corona Sahu. In 1995, says Pramila, the workers were offered voluntary retirement. Her husband was one of 422 workers who refused to accept this and asked for some form of work instead. They were promised jobs in a new factory that the owners said they would open. Instead, in 1996, the workers were once again told to accept VRS. Left with no options, Pramila says her husband gave in his resignation and in return was given a post-dated cheque for Rs. 1.5 lakhs. However, when the cheque was deposited in the bank, it bounced.

For two years, Udhav Gavkar tried to find a job. When his cheque was not realised, he decided to file a case against the owner for defrauding him and other workers. She says he lived in the hope that he would win his case. Instead, he lost. The day after he heard the news, he decided to take his life. Today, Pramila survives by selling milk in the morning, and blouse pieces and petticoats the rest of the day. Her 19-year-old son has had to quit studies while her 17-year-old is still in college.

Apart from the laid-off workers from the organised sector, the panel also heard the problems faced by thousands of unorganised workers from the tribal areas surrounding Mumbai's industrial belt. These workers line up at several key crossings on the highway looking for work. Contractors pick up workers each day, take them to a site, and pay them at the end of the season. The workers do not know the name of their employer or even the exact location of the site where they are taken to work. In such a situation, it is impossible for them to demand a minimum wage. Worse still, such workers cannot determine their actual employer as big corporations farm out work to sub-contractors. Even the organised unions are unable to help, as courts require workers and employers to have a relationship.

Referring to the current campaign by the Shiv Sena against Biharis coming to Mumbai for railway jobs, Pravin Dalvi, a worker from another closed factory, said that 25 to 30 per cent of the workers in Mumbai's textile mills used to be from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. "We had no such clashes then because everyone had work. But today, because of Government policies and the illegal activities of the employers and unemployment, violent feelings can be aroused," he said.

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Mumbai workers in despair