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2 more die in manual scavenging incident, 1,790 deaths and counting
The News Minute reported another incident of manual scavenging in an Exide factory in Tamil Nadu this week. Two men died while they were attempting to clean a septic tank. They report, “According to the police, Nagesh opened the slab of the 30-feet-deep tank, which was not opened for around 15 days. He inhaled the poisonous gas and fell into the tank, unconscious. Padaiyappa, who was with Nagesh, jumped in to save him and died on the spot after inhaling the poisonous gas too.”
These deaths are the latest in a long and bloody list. Last week, hundreds of people gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against this inhuman practice. GroundXero reports that “11 people have died in the sewers in the last 7 days alone…. as many as 1,790 manual scavengers have lost their lives while working. The National Commission for Safai Karmachari (NCSK) has shown that on average one person died in every five days since 2017 while cleaning sewers and septic tanks.”
Illustration by Aliza Bakht
The Safai Karamchari Andolan have sections on their website for people to report an incident of manual scavenging or any activity that violates the laws against the practice. There’s also a page for those who want to volunteer with the organisation. For more coverage of manual scavenging, you can see The Wire’s special section GRIT which is dedicated to covering the issue.
Azim Premji University report says India struggles to convert GDP growth into jobs
The Centre for Sustainable Employment has released a new ‘State of Working India’ report that claims that a 10 per cent increase in GDP has led to less than 1 per cent increase in employment. Unemployment among the youth is especially high. There are a number of statistics that make for interesting reading. For example, 82 per cent of male and 92 per cent of female workers earn less than Rs. 10,000 a month. Scheduled caste workers earn only 56 per cent of their upper caste counterparts. 30% of work is now on short-term contracts. The full report can be found on the university website. Amit Basole and Arjun Jayadev who work at APU and are authors of the report have written about their findings, explaining the challenges in terms of the number of jobs as well as the quality of work that those jobs represent.
Industrial workers’ protest in Chennai continues, no breakthroughs
More than 3,500 workers from companies like Yamaha, Royal Enfield and Myoung Shin are protesting in Chennai over working conditions and wages at their factories. The workers of Myoung Shin took the protest to the Korean Consulate, stating that the factory suspended 15 workers for trying to start a union. Thozhilalar Koodam reports that 150 of the protesting workers were arrested and taken away from the Consulate to a nearby marriage hall where they were detained. At Yamaha and Royal Enfield, the talks are going poorly. The Hindu reports that the Royal Enfield workers have been threatened with termination if they do not return to work at once. The High Court has ordered them not to protest within 100 metres of the factory.
Rajasthan transport workers’ strike continues
As reported earlier, the workers of the Rajasthan State Transport Corporation are on strike “demanding the government implement the seventh pay commission recommendations, lift the ban on recruitment for 8,000 vacant posts in roadways, and replacement of 1,000 buses which have run 8 lakh kilometres.” The government has reportedly made no attempt to negotiate with the workers. Family members of the protesting workers have come out in solidarity, trying to add to the numbers and force the government to the discussion table.
Anganwadi worker fired for having more than two children, approaches Bombay High Court
Tanvi Sodaye was fired in March 2018 from her job at the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) for having more than two children. The case came up for a hearing last week and the state explained that the Small Families Rules has been operational since 2005. News 18 reports that Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said that candidates who did not follow these rules “faced disqualification from future employment prospects, lost out on several benefits, or faced dismissal from their services.” Sodaye joined the ICDS in 2002 and became an Anganwadi Sevika in 2012.
International news
Highest minimum wage in the U.S., $19, approved for New York’s airport workers
As many as 40,000 workers in the US are on the path to earning 19$ an hour over the next five years. This is the highest minimum wage ever approved by a public agency in the country. This victory comes after years of fighting by unions who despite having Democrat support were blocked by Republican officials. To put this number in context, the Federal minimum wage is 7.25$ an hour but each state can enact its own rate above that. On December 31, New York will increase its minimum wage to 15$ an hour which puts it at one of the highest in the country along with California and a few other cities.
21,800 people killed in work-related accidents during AKP rule in Turkey
With more and more reports from Turkey coming in, the picture that emerges only gets worse. The human rights abuses are not only in the war-torn areas but are all pervasive in the way the government handles labour rights. A recent report by the opposition party in Turkey argues that almost 22,000 people have died in work accidents while the Erdogan-led government has ruled. More than 300 children and 700 women are reported to have died in such accidents over the last 5 years. Most of these women worked in the informal economy and were not part of labour unions.
Weekend reading
‘Government policies killing the knitwear industry’: Frontline interviews K. Kamaraj of Banian Workers Union on the difficulties facing the knitwear industry in Tirupur. Kamaraj talks about the lack of housing and medical facilities, the fluctuation in yarn prices and the impact of government policies. Read about here.
The International Black Panthers: A review of the book ‘Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers’ by Elaine Mokhtefi which discusses legendary figures like Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire and others. Read more here.
We are all very anxious: Plan C is a group of UK-based anti-authoritarian communists. In a very intriguing essay, they argue that each mode of capitalism has a “dominant affect”. Resistance strategies target these affects but the structures of capitalism adapt and morph and a new affect emerges. One such affect was misery, another was boredom and today, the dominant affect is anxiety. “Today’s public secret is that everyone is anxious. Anxiety has spread from its previous localised locations (such as sexuality) to the whole of the social field. All forms of intensity, self-expression, emotional connection, immediacy, and enjoyment are now laced with anxiety. It has become the linchpin of subordination.” Read more here.