Welfare activities for unorganized workers

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RDT is a social development organization established in 1992. Since its inception RDT is working with marginalized, neglected and vulnerable sections of the community such as scheduled castes and scheduled Tribes, Salt pan workers, bonded laborers, welfare of women and also organizing agricultural farmers in Thiruporur, St. Thomas mount and Kattankulathur blocks of Kanchipuram district.

RDT is working for the total development of the migrant community from Andhra Pradesh and Orissa facilitating education for the migrant children, Health care, social security, legal support for affected workers and empowerment programme for migrant and rural women at large. RDT is promoting educational rights, capacity building training to the vulnerable community in Kanchipuram District.

The strength of RDT is the experience in organizing the construction workers, Rice mill workers and agricultural laborers. The organization strongly gets rooted with the unorganized workers’ federation which is a state level body committed towards protecting and promoting the rights of the unorganized workers. This intervention by RDT has just started in June 2011. This extension also reaches the parents of migrant children.

Unorganized Laborers- A Perspective:

The word unorganized means lack of work records, irregular employment and lack of direct employer- employee relation leading to invisibility and vulnerability.

The unorganized workers include laborers in construction, Brick kilns, Street vending, Rice mills, Forests, Agriculture and sanitary workers.

Need for this project:

Construction and Agriculture constitute the largest number of unorganized workers in Tamil Nadu. Large number of workers in Rice mills and Brick Kilns (Part of construction) are in bonded labor and children are the most affected. Sanitary workers are victims of privatization and manual scavenging.

Unorganized workers number 26 million in the state of TamilNadu and agriculture employs 16 million while the other sectors such as construction, hand looms and power looms, forests, fishing, rice mills, street vending, home based work, transport, loading unloading brick kilns, quarries etc employ lakhs of laborers in rural and urban areas and include migrant labor, bonded labor and child labor. They face twin issues of lack of protection and social security as well as loss of livelihoods due to displacements.

Construction workers number 3 million in Tamil Nadu state and are the largest group after agricultural labor. They suffer from accidents and have no safety at all. They are homeless and move place to place in search of work. After long struggles from 1979, Tamil Nadu Manual workers Act was passed in 1982 and Tamil Nadu construction workers scheme was notified in 1994 and welfare board constituted in 1995. The manual workers welfare board was formed in 1999 and in 2000. Twelve welfare boards have been formed in Tamil Nadu so far. Now there are 16 welfare boards in the labor department and other welfare boards under various departments.

Rules for safety and Regulation were notified by Tamil Nadu Govt, in 2006 on the basis of Central Acts of 1996. But they are not being implemented. There is a bondage and child labor especially among migrant labor being illiterate; they have no awareness about the laws and implementation. In quarries, Brick kilns and rice mills bonded labor and child labor are rampant.

Government of Tamil Nadu has been evicting the slum dwellers in Chennai city in the name of Singara Chennai and infrastructure projects in Chennai and displacing the poor families to far off places such as Semmencherry, Kannagi Nagar leading to deprivation, loss of livelihoods and children’s education. They have undergone untold miseries. The official plan is to displace one lakh families (Four lakh people) for port- Maduravayal elevated Expressway (along the Cooum), coastal elevated express way and cleaning of 3 major and minor water ways- Cooum, Adayar, Otteri Nullah, Buckingham canal, Mambalam canal and captain Cotton canal. There is estimated one lakh population living on pavements with no shelter, proper identity or basic amenities.

The Slum- Pavement dwellers are laborers in the unorganized sector- construction, Domestic, Fish, Street vending, Loading, sanitary workers and rag pickers. It is pertinent to organize workers in the districts in order to ensure social security safety minimum wages, Abolition of bonded labor as well as protection of migrant labor. It is crucial to organize them to stop evictions- displacements deprivation and loss of livelihoods and ensure basic amenities and as well as housing near the place of work for the homeless population, Protection of migrant labor. All these populations suffer from many plights and they remain in the lowest rank in the society. These concern areas will be given attention and all the benefits provided by the government will be availed.

Project implementation Areas:

Unorganized workers including construction workers from Chennai city, Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Coimbatore and Nagapattinam districts will be organized. The above mentioned Districts have been chosen on the reasons that

a. Slum evictions are taking place in Chennai affecting the livelihood rights and housing rights of 2 lakh unorganized workers with relocation in neighboring districts of Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram.

b. The 3 districts of Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram are contagious and very large in number, 3 lakh of migrant laborers are working with no labor laws or identity, Coimbatore, Vellore and Nagapattinam are also districts where a very large number of migrant workers live on site and work.

c. Sanitary workers are also affected by privatization and manual scavenging

d. Bonded labor and child labor in rice mills, quarries and brick kilns exist in large numbers in Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Vellore and Coimbatore districts.

RDT’s Intervention will be done as below;

Construction workers- All 6 districts

Street vendors- All 6 districts

Rice mill workers - Thiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Vellore

Sanitary workers - Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram

Agricultural workers - Kanchipuram, Thiuruvallur and Vellore

Project Objectives:

To organize unorganized workers and create awareness about their rights

To organize street vendors, construction workers, rice mill workers, Agricultural workers and sanitary workers for social security and labor rights

To facilitate laborers towards Registration and periodical renewal in welfare boards and securing benefits from the boards and other government schemes.

To identify and release the bonded laborers and securing Rehabilitation measures from government

To organize the slum- Pavement dwellers and domestic dwellers (Pavement dwellers are manila workers in the construction, street vending and domestic sectors; hence they are unorganized in Chennai city.

To document the status of the unorganized workers

To make advocacy and lobbying against eviction of slum dwellers and vendors.

Activities:

Organizing unorganized workers in to workers’ groups and trade unions. (We need trade union to uplift the unorganized workers from unprotected conditions and to secure labor rights and social security)

Registering them in welfare boards and securing benefits from welfare board

Creating awareness among representatives through Awareness camps regarding TN manual workers’ Act, Minimum wages Act,

Conducting cultural Jadhas for public awareness in each district for public awareness on labor laws, Elimination of child labor, bonded labor, social security, compulsory education.

Organizing district level seminars to focus on governmental attention on the plight of unorganized workers, streamlining of welfare boards, comprehensive social security, safety accidents and migration among construction workers bonded labor, release and rehabilitation city development projects and Impact, housing and livelihood rights.

In Chennai city, formation of area committee, women’s committee and sectoral groups among slum pavement dwellers seminars on housing and livelihood rights. Displacement and rehabilitation city development projects and impacts, Jathas among the 6 waterways and Chennai coast. (NB; Housing- the area committee and women’s committee will be formed in each project affected slum and settlements in the city. There will be regular area meetings at the area level and representatives meeting at the city level which will decide on the course of action to realize the housing right s and livelihood rights, specifically to stop eviction and for land tenure and for housing for landless population, without affecting livelihoods.

Availing maternity benefits, educational assistance, pension, Insurance, housing, sanitation, including them in MGNREGA work, Marriage benefits, death benefits and accident benefits and other welfare schemes from the Government.

NB: Those who volunteer to assist this work in the above mentioned districts kindly contact us through - ruraltrust@yahoo.com 

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