The UnionAID project in Tamil Nadu is a really good example of life-changing benefits for a relatively modest investment.

A recent evaluation of the project has confirmed that, not only is the project enabling dalit workers to achieve impressive monetary gains, it has also given these traditionally oppressed communities a dignity and respect which they have previously been denied.

The collective strength of more than 30,000 Dalit and tribal workers is achieving impressive results:

• Most importantly, they say, they now have recognition as human beings and workers, after centuries of discrimination and oppression.
• Minimum wages and conditions of employment have been negotiated, in many cases for workers who have been traditionally expected to undertake their work (such as cremating the dead) for no payment and then beg for food.
• Their collective strength has given them the ability to protect their children from being taken for child labour by dominant castes.
• As a group to be reckoned with, union members are now approached by local body candidates to canvass their voting strength, whereas previously they were ignored.

The UnionAID Tamil Nadu project is, for the first time, giving some meaning to fundamental human rights for Dalit and tribal workers. The indicators of this are:

Gender equality and women’s empowerment

Improved women’s access to entitlements under government and union agreements,

strong participation and leadership by women within the union,

a reported reduction in domestic violence from 25-15%

increasing education of girls in Dalit and Tribal families.

Reduction in discrimination against tribal people

Union membership has reduced discrimination and engendered respect from dominant castes.

Reduction in forced or bonded labour

The project work has significantly reduced bonded and forced labour.

Reduction in child labour

Child labour is being reduced mainly because collective power has prevented dominant castes from forcing their children into their homes to provide unpaid domestic labour,

Right to organise and bargain collectively

This right is being exercised through union membership and the collective bargaining which is occurring.

Equal pay

The project is committed to equal pay and the negotiated pay agreements reflect this.

The right to life and security of person

Union membership has given them protection against both violence from “dominant castes” and harassment and violence from the police.

The right to work

Union cooperatives have been established to create and maintain viable employment in the production of products and services where union members have skills.

The right to education

Improvements in pay and work conditions have enabled a greater number of Dalit and Tribal families to send their children to school.

TNLU Youth Group Band

Union identity cards have put a stop to police harassment of cremation workers, according to Allahasami, the Cremation Workers’ Union President. Since joining the Tamil Nadu Labour Union (TNLU) these illiterate workers asked for – and designed themselves – a union membership card.

The cremation workers carry these ID cards at all times as a safeguard against police intimidation and harassment.

At a field meeting with UnionAid Executive Chair Ross Wilson, a crowd of at least fifty workers sheltering from the rain under a spreading banyan tree flourished their ID cards with obvious pride. For them, the card is not only proof of union membership but a concrete symbol of their new status as human beings.

In a country where the majority of Dalit and Tribal workers suffer gross exploitation and discrimination, cremation workers are considered the “most oppressed” of all. Born into the job, these people languish at the bottom of a caste system which imposes a rigid occupational hierarchy on all Hindus. Because they deal with dead bodies, cremation workers are considered dirty and ‘untouchable’. Traditionally they had to beat drums to warn higher caste people of their approach because even their shadows were thought to contaminate anyone they touched.

In spite of their critical importance to the community, rural cremation workers have often not been paid for their labour or for the fuel to burn the bodies. Instead, they had to go from house to house to beg for food and materials.

Today, through the UnionAID project,  union organising and collective action has changed  the lives of these cremation workers. Those in authority now listen to their demands and treat them with dignity. They are no longer beaten or harassed. They are now paid a small monthly wage by the village council, and they can afford to send their children to school. Like parents everywhere their hopes are that education will give their children the choices and opportunities that they have never had.

Helen Wilson

I spent a week with each project and, after meetings and visits with many participating workers, it’s great to be able to assure donors that your contributions are bringing huge benefits to these very vulnerable workers.

In Tamil Nadu the Dalit and tribal workers spoke movingly, and with great pride, about the benefits they have been able to achieve through their union which now has more than 30,000 members, and their gratitude to New Zealand workers for your solidarity.

For these workers and their families, gaining respect as well as monetary gains has been a life-changing experience.

On the Thai-Burma border, in the very difficult conditions for migrant workers in cheap labour sweatshops, the project is bringing knowledge of labour rights and the collective strength to exercise them. Most of these workers are young women and the project is also providing leadership and vocational skills training.

The whole experience made me very proud of what UnionAID has already helped these workers to achieve. And of course our donors should share that pride because we can’t do it without your financial support.

So thanks again for making your commitment. Your money is already making a huge difference to many thousands of some of the most vulnerable workers in the world.

Ross Wilson
Executive Chair
UnionAID

There are 32 families in our village and we are all poor and own no land to grow our own food.

We work for higher caste people, collecting and selling wild grass, berries, honey, gum, nuts and herbs.  We also collect and sell firewood.

Our village has many health problems and many children die before the age of five due to malnutrition.

In India 85 children of every 1000 die before the age of five. In NZ only 6 out of every thousand children die before 5 years of age. Indian children die of diseases that can easily be prevented by clean water and enough good food.

We felt that no one cared about us because we are untouchables.

But now things have changed.

Untouchables must not let even their shadows touch others. Dalits (“crushed underfoot”) as they prefer to be called, exist at the bottom of the ancient Hindu caste system. Dalits have to do the work no-one else will do; the dirty jobs like scavenging for rubbish, cleaning toilets, and handling dead bodies for cremation. Most Dalits and Tribals have no land of their own and often work for landowners as bonded labourers. Very few can read or write and they face abuse, violence and discrimination despite legal rights in the Indian Constitution.

I am President of the women’s committee, or sangham, and  we  meet regularly to discuss and make plans to solve village problems.

We learn about basic rights and the government services which can help them.

We organise rallies and protests to demand equal wages, education for children, health care services and clean drinking water.

We have also formed a woman’s bank so we don’t have to borrow at high interest rates from money lenders.  We now have a voice and we are changing our lives.

This is a tremendous achievement by workers who have historically been oppressed, abused and exploited by upper castes.

The TLU also reports a huge list of achievements for the project, but probably the most impressive is the sense of pride and confidence which their collective work has given them.
The project has also helped them with leadership training and the development of communication and organising systems. A particular focus on the role of women and leadership and gender training has ensured a prominent role for women in a culture where women have had few rights.

Working together the union has developed their cooperative employment ventures, established micro-banks, organised representation and campaigns to local and national government on a range of issues.

But perhaps their most enduring achievements will be the changes of attitudes which the education work is bringing. At this stage this is mainly among union members and their families with gender training, but the confidence that collective action is bringing is changing other relationships as well.

The current UnionAID project will continue over the next three years with support from NZAID through the KOHA-PICD funding programme.

(See Kaleeswari’s story on page 2 for more information on Union AID‘s work with the TLU.)

“Despite efforts and programmes to address child labour, bonded labour and the position of Dalits, large numbers of people remain in deplorable situations. More than 1.3 million Dalits are estimated to be still employed as manual scavengers. Dalits comprise the majority of agricultural, bonded and child labourers in the country and are employed in the most exploitative forms of employment.”

Brussels, 23 May 2007: There remain serious violations of all core labour standards in India, states a new ITUC report. The report is being released today to coincide with India’s trade policy review at the WTO on 23 and 25 May.

India has still not ratified the ILO’s Core Conventions on workers’ right to organise and to collective bargaining. Although workers have the legal right to organise, this is subject to restrictions, and in many companies there is a hostile attitude towards trade unions. Furthermore the formal economy only employs 10% of workers. Even those workers who are organised face great reluctance by employers to negotiate collective agreements. There has been an increase in contract labour which has further weakened trade unions and the bargaining power of workers. Law enforcement is seriously lacking and legal procedures remain long and costly.

The report further notes that there has been an increase in the number of Special Economic Zones. Although on paper the workers there have a right to organise and to collective bargaining, in practice entry into the zones is closely restricted which makes organising extremely difficult. Furthermore, state laws often dilute the central labour legislation in SEZs, and attempts have been made by some states to exempt the SEZs from the application of labour laws. The majority of SEZ workers are women, employed in export-oriented sectors such as garments, electronics and software. Many workers are employed on a temporary contract basis.

To further weaken the position of workers and their trade unions, proposals for amendments of the Contract Labour Act have been made that would increase the number of processes where contract labour is permitted with regard to cleaning, garbage collection, security, maintenance of machinery, house-keeping, information technology, support services, construction, SEZs and units exporting at least 75% of their production. It is also proposed that the appropriate government may in the case of an emergency, direct, by a simple notification, that any of the provisions of the Act shall not apply to any establishments or any class of contractors for any period.

The report further refers to a widening gender wage gap in India due to economic reform and trade liberalisation. Many companies appear to have responded to competitive pressures by maintaining the level of male wages but not those of women employees. It therefore seems that groups of workers who have weak bargaining power and lower workplace status may be less able to negotiate for favourable working conditions and higher pay. The lack of enforcement of labour standards that prohibit sex-based discrimination contributes to this widening wage gap.

Despite efforts and programmes to address child labour, bonded labour and the position of Dalits, large numbers of people remain in deplorable situations. More than 1.3 million Dalits are estimated to be still employed as manual scavengers. Dalits comprise the majority of agricultural, bonded and child labourers in the country and are employed in the most exploitative forms of employment.

Figures for child labour have resulted in estimates ranging between 12 million and 115 million working children, which shows the lack of reliable data collection. Most children are engaged in agriculture, cultivation, manufacturing, processing, household industries, factory work, domestic work and small trading activities. The worst forms of child labour include mining, carpet weaving, gems, silk industry, brick making, sexual exploitation, leather and agriculture processes. Although some progress has been made, enforcement of legislation remains poor and sanctions insufficient.

To see the full report click here

Thanks to the ITUC for this story