The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Women leaders needed for labour movement

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Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Women leaders needed for labour movement

Staff Reporter

‘Destiny of trade union depends on women’s leadership’

Hiring of workers has become less expensive after globalisation
Need to include women in trade union activities stressed

Bangalore: “Though we work for the same period and do the same work as our male counterparts, why is that we are paid less than them? Our wages are low while the work pressure is high. Why is this so even after a continuous struggle for women empowerment?” These were some of the questions raised by women workers from the unorganised sector at a consultation meet organised by the National Centre for Labour here on Monday.

More than 30 women workers, including agricultural, construction, domestic and migrant workers from 10 States participated in the meet to discuss ways and means of promoting women’s leadership in the unorganised sector unions.

Addressing the workers, P. Muthu Lingam, deputy president of Lanka General Services Union of Sri Lanka, said it was unfortunate that workers had to struggle to get minimum wages though it is a must according to the provisions of the law.

He said hiring of workers had become less expensive after globalisation owing to methods such as outsourcing of work. “Though the trade union movement is old, women participation is very low mainly because of the structure of the union, which is male-dominated,” he said.

Elaborating on the need for women’s leadership in the labour movement in the context of globalisation, Mr. Muthu Lingam said the destiny of the trade union movement in India depended on women’s leadership.

Empowerment

Supriya Roy Chowdhary, Professor, Department of Political Institution of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), who spoke on “Women workers and activism in India” said women’s empowerment should happen simultaneously at home and at work. Stressing that it was essential to include women in trade union activities, Ms. Chowdhary said it was unfortunate that involvement in union-related activities often resulted in job loss for women.

President of National Alliance of Women Ruth Manorama said the need of the hour was to ensure that more and more women participated in the trade union movement.

N.P. Samy, secretary of National Centre for Labour, said a set of recommendations would be drafted at the end of the two-day consultation meet.

“We will forward these recommendations to the Union and State Governments and central trade unions urging for immediate implementation,” he added.

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