minimum wage india

The Life of Labour: 24 Dead in Punjab Cracker Factory Blast, Zomato Lays Off 540 Employees

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Zomato lays off 540 employees, says jobs will be automated

Popular restaurant discovery and food delivery platform Zomato has laid off 540 employees from its customer support team, saying jobs will be automated and those let go will receive two to four months of severance pay, Economic Times has reported. This is the biggest round of layoffs at the company, and has resulted in the reduction of 10% of its total employee strength.

“Over the last few months, we have seen our technology products and platforms evolve and improve significantly. We have dramatically improved the speed of service resolution, such that now only 7.5% of our orders need support (down from 15% in March),” the company said in a statement on Saturday. However, it insisted that it was not cutting costs, and cited figures of fresh hiring across functions this year.

“Zomato had earlier laid off close to 300 employees in early 2015, or 10% of its staff, due to cost-cutting,” reported LiveMint.

Sounding an alarm on future job losses due to advances in automation, Analytics India Magazine has argued for ‘upskilling’ of workers as a probable solution. A recent survey by IBM found, “More than 120 million workers globally will need retraining in the next three years due to artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs.”

The Zomato app page. Photo: Twitter/@Zomato

A recently-released report by the global commission on the future of work put together by the International Labour Organisation also argued for reskilling and upskilling of workers to keep humans at the centre of the world of work in the age of artificial intelligence. “Today’s skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow and newly acquired skills may quickly become obsolete,” it said.

Auto sales slump leaves workers struggling

While Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman blamed millennials preferring cab aggregator services like Ola and Uber for the slump in auto sales, she offered little explanation for automobile giants cutting production in even the heavy motor vehicles segment. According to a report in The Hindu, “Commercial vehicle sales – which are usually seen as an indicator of the economic activity in the country, tumbled nearly 39%.” Recently, Ashok Leyland also announced a pan-India cut down on working days, citing weak demand.

With automobile sales witnessing the worst crash in two decades, there have been production cuts and layoffs across the sector. Contractual and temporary workers have been the first to be hit and the auto ancillary industry that thrives on an ecosystem around production plants of big manufacturers has also been severely affected.

Manesar and Gurugram in Haryana are two such hubs of auto ancillaries that produce auto components for original equipment manufacturers. With a slowdown in production, contractual and temporary workers have been sent on leave. A team from The Wire that visited the area witnessed palpable fear among even permanent employees that they might lose their jobs. A joint council of trade unions of Gurugram has submitted a memorandum seeking government intervention to protect workers who they say are being fired in the guise of a production slowdown.

A ground report from Scroll.in documents stories of many such auto workers who have been laid off and are struggling to find new job opportunities.

24 dead in explosion at Punjab cracker factory

At least 24 people have been confirmed dead in a massive explosions at an illegal firecracker factory at Batala in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab. “The incident occurred as the workers inside were grinding potassium to fill in the crackers ahead of Diwali,” Inspector General (Border Range) S.P.S. Parmar told HuffPost India.

This is the most recent among many such incidents of workplace accidents, highlighting a lack of robust inspections and preparedness concerning occupational safety and hazard. On August 28, “at least 13 people were killed and 72 others injured in an explosion at a chemical factory in Maharashtra’s Dhule district,” Indian Express reported.

Also read: The Life of Labour: Migrant Workers in Kashmir Leave, 5 Die in Ghaziabad Sewer

Even though they seldom make national news, the number of workers dying in such avoidable accidents are quite alarming. “Every day, 47 factory workers are injured and three die in accidents. Data from the Labour and Employment Ministry reveal that in three years (2014-2016), as many as 3,562 workers have lost their lives while 51,124 were injured in accidents that occurred in factories across the country,” says a report in Hindu Businessline.

Government snubs experts

An expert committee headed by labour economist Anoop Satpathy, had recently suggested a needs-based national minimum wage of Rs 375 per day or Rs 9,750 per month as of July 2018, irrespective of sectors. However, Telegraph has reported that the government has overruled the panel and is now considering setting up a new committee of bureaucrats to determine a lower floor wage.

Representative image of MNREGA workers. Photo: IISG/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Minimum wages in India are the lowest in the world when compared to other large economies.

“They said the main reason behind the Centre’s decision to let a new committee supersede the previous panel was that the experts did not concur with the feedback the government had received internally in their recommendation,” the report said.

There have been heated debates around what an ideal minimum wage should be and if they need to be uniform throughout the country. While trade unions argue that they should be decided in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Raptakos Brett case, the recently passed Code on Wages, 2019 has left the determination and revisions at the mercy of committees which the unions claim will always have a pro-employer bias.

Even the Economic Survey for 2018-2019, which had a dedicated section on minimum wages, cited a study showing the presence of a “lighthouse effect” – the minimum wage acts as a benchmark that pulls up wages in the low-paid and informal sector by enhancing the bargaining power of vulnerable workers. This has reportedly led to a rise in actual wages.

Also read: The Life of Labour: MTNL Workers Unpaid for 2 Months, 2 Lakh Auto Sector Jobs Cut

International news

GM Korea workers stage first full strike in more than 20 years

Unionised workers at the South Korean unit of General Motors or GM have gone on a strike demanding higher wages and against the carmaker’s restructuring plan in the country, says a report in Financial Times. The strike is significant as the union has 8,000 members who are on an all-out strike for the first time in two decades.

Workers are reportedly awaiting a wind up of operations. Photo: Reuters

“The union is demanding a 5.7% increase in basic monthly salary, one and a half months of wages in incentives, and a cash bonus of Won 6.5m ($5,400) per worker.”

Cut down in production and fears of the motor giant winding up its operations in Korea has led to fears of a mass layoff.

California passes landmark gig economy workers’ rights bill

“Lawmakers in California have passed a landmark bill that would make it much more difficult for companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees,” says a report in Guardian.

The bill would go into effect from January 1 and is set to make it difficult for companies like Uber to deny that their workers are employees. “…workers must be designated as employees instead of contractors if a company exerts control over how they perform their tasks or if their work is part of a company’s regular business,” it said.

The bill also allows for entitlements like holiday and sick pay to workers in the gig economy. US Democratic presidential candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris have supported the move. The response from trade groups and platforms in the gig economy has been predictably critical.

“We are fully prepared to take this issue to the voters of California to preserve the freedom and access drivers’ and riders’ wants and needs,” the ride-hailing company Lyft said in a statement.

Extra reading

Jostled by robots and new job-seekers, auto workers have to accept their insecure fate

Strangled by a safety net: When severance agreements demand workers’ silence

73.2% of rural women workers are farmers, but own 12.8% land holdings

As they build India’s first camp for illegals, some workers fear detention there

The Jobs imperative: Improving employment outcomes for India’s youth

BSNL revival plan lacks vision: Staff union

Protesting Exploitation, Women Workers From Garment Industry Paint Bangalore Red

Though the May Day rally prioritised the fight for better wages, the women workers also opened up about the humiliation and harassment they face at factories.

Bangalore: On the morning of May 1, the grey and barren space underneath the flyover near Kanteerava Studio in Bangalore looked like it had been painted red.

Dressed in red saris and holding red flags, scores of women workers from the garment industry in the city had assembled to carry out a protest rally to demand a raise in their minimum wages.

There are around 1,200 garment units in Bangalore which employ around 4.5 lakh workers.

In Karnataka, these garment workers get paid a minimum wage of around Rs 8,000 a month – 25% below the urban poverty line of Rs 10,800 a month, based on the Rangarajan Committee report.

“With Rs 8,000 each month, I have to manage house rent, my child’s school fees among other household expenditures,” Nalina, a garment worker, told The Wire. “I came to this city from Davangere in search of better employment opportunities ten years ago. I found myself a job in a garment factory thinking my life is only going to get better now. But here I am on May 1, ready to begin yet another march to demand what is actually my right.”

Also read: In Narol, the Lives of Migrant Garment Workers Hang By a Thread

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, mandates a revision of wages by state governments every three to five years. However, workers in the four-decade-old garment industry in Karnataka argue that their wages have been increased only four times in 44 years.

In February 2018, the state government issued a draft notification recommending that all unskilled workers be paid Rs 11, 587 per month as minimum wages; skilled workers, it suggested, should be paid Rs 14,000.

This notification, garment workers argue, was rolled back even before it could become public knowledge.

“The rumour is that the government withdrew its own notification because of pressure from lobbyists favouring the factory owners who felt that the new wages would affect their profitability,” Rukmini V.P., the President of the Garment Labour Union, said.

Credit: Archana Nathan

“Some even say a deal was struck and around Rs 10 crore was given to ensure the notification was rolled back. We are demanding today that the government pay workers a minimum wage of Rs 11,587 as per its order and pay up the arrears of the last year. Together, for five lakh workers, this amount comes to more than Rs 1,862 crore in the past year alone. They have cheated us of this money.”

The Labour Department’s rationale behind withdrawing the draft notification is explained in this document. The argument presented here is that the garment sector is similar to textiles – silk and yarn – and printing and dyeing industries. Thus, if different wages are awarded to these four industries, it could lead to “labour unrest”, the government argues. Hence it decided to promise equal wages across sectors, the document says. However, it doesn’t mention the amount.

The document also argues that the entire issue would be resolved through a tripartite negotiation between labour department officials, textile manufacturers, central trade unions and garment workers.

The trade unions and garment workers challenged the withdrawal of the notification in court and in April earlier this year, the Karnataka high court passed an order in favour of workers in 34 private industries including textiles, dyeing, printing and garments.

Also read: Women Workers Report Abuse, Violence Across Fashion Giant H&M’s Supply Chain

The court upheld the government’s notification for an increase in minimum wages. It also ordered employers to pay the revised minimum wages owed to workers along with an interest of 6% per annum from the date from which the revised wages were payable.

“We want to know what they are waiting for,” asked Rukmini at the rally as other protestors listened. “Why should we have to struggle to make ends meet?”

Clarifying the government’s stand, a senior official from the Labour Department, on the condition of anonymity, said: While the court passed 34 orders, it also upheld the withdrawal of our notification. The court has now given us six months to revise the minimum wages for garment workers. We have constituted a committee for the same.”

Credit: Archana Nathan

A long-term demand

As the confusion and politics over the minimum wages seems to continue, the garment workers at the rally on May 1 also put forward a bigger long-term demand: to legalise Rs 18,000 as the minimum wage for all workers in India. This includes anganwadi, ASHA, sanitation, construction and garment labourers.

“While we await the money that they owe us, we want to tell them that we actually deserve a much higher minimum wage, even higher than the one they had planned to give us – one that will help us lead our life with some basic dignity,” Arunarani, a member of GLU said.

‘Torturous’ working conditions

Alongside the demand for basic wages, the May 1 rally became a venue to discuss other long-standing and equally significant issues that women workers face in the garment industries.

Bharathi has been working in the garment industry for the last five years and says she has been itching to film the kind of humiliation and harassment that women go through in the factories.

“Our supervisors expect us to prepare 100-150 pieces in an hour – are we machines?” she asked. “And if we don’t, then we get called a dog, a loafer and all sorts of terrible names. This is in front of everyone. None us can say anything back to them because that would mean they will only harass us more – especially if we want leave or if we go to talk to them about our wages.”

Also read: The Life of Labour: Garment Workers Protest Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Nalina echoes Bharathi’s experience. “I work in the collar finishing unit and the expectation is that I should complete one shirt’s collar in three seconds!” she explained. “If we our job is to attach collars to shirts, the expectation is that we must finish 120 shirts in one hour. The supervisors come with a timer and track our productivity. This often means, we have to sacrifice toilet breaks and sometimes, even lunch breaks to ensure we complete the task.”

A complaint made to the human resources department is also futile, argues Nalina. “The HRD member will come and lecture the supervisor but once he leaves, the same thing continues,” she says.

Testimonies from the May 1 rally have been corroborated in a recent report compiled by Human Rights Watch about labour conditions in the apparel industry and the role of brands:

“Human Rights Watch has consistently heard accounts of workers from different countries—Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan—about the pressure to work faster and without breaks. Some common methods of getting workers to produce more include restricting workers’ toilet breaks; trimming their meal breaks; squeezing “trainings” into lunch or other rest breaks so the “production time” is not lost; disallowing drinking water breaks and other rest breaks.”

“The pressure to work faster has a gendered impact, especially given women workers’ needs for additional toilet or rest breaks during menstruation. Pregnant workers from different countries have told Human Rights Watch that they have found themselves targeted as “unproductive.” Workers have also recounted how line supervisors or other managers hurl verbal abuses at them to humiliate them and make them work faster.”

Credit: Archana Nathan

Sexual harassment

Sometime last year, a woman lodged a complaint with the Garments Labour Union when her general manager asked her for sexual favours and continuously harassed her by making sexually-coloured remarks, both in person and on the phone.

The complaint is currently under investigation by the internal complaints committee at the factory. The survivor has, in the meantime, been transferred to a different department while the general manager still holds his job. “He has worked in the factory for several years, so he cannot be removed so easily,” said another garment worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “But since it would be torturous for her to continue to see him as the investigation proceeds, she was transferred.”

Instances of sexual harassment in the garment industry are very common, the workers say. “Rarely do women feel brave enough to complain against their male supervisors,” Arunarani said. “They are either worried about what their co-workers will think, or worried that their families will stop them from working if they find out. They end up tolerating it and living with it.”

“Today we are prioritising our fight for better wages because we are unable to run our homes,” Nalina said. “We have been talking about our working conditions for years – about the torture we face day in and day out. Reporters like you will write something and go. We’ll meet at yet another rally like this and talk about this again.”

Archana Nathan is an independent journalist based out of Bengaluru.