#WorkersStrikeBack: Life of Industrial Workers in Delhi’s Steel Rolling Units

[As lakhs of workers gear up for a historic All India Strike on January 8-9, called for by ten central trade unions, NewsClick brings to you glimpses of the lives of industrial workers in different parts of the country.]

Rajinder Singh Yadav, has been working in the Wazirpur industrial area in North-western Delhi for over five years. He works in a steel polishing factory and gets most of his work through contractors, paying them part of his salary. He has a strange wage arrangement - his daily wage officially amounts to around Rs. 500 on average, but he has to give Rs. 100 to the owner (for raw material) and Rs. 200 to the contractor who fixed up the job. What he gets is Rs. 200 per day for 12 hours of work, far below the statutory minimum wage.

This and similar types of contractual arrangements are the norm in the Wazirpur industrial area, a hub of over 300 factories manufacturing steel products like utensils, vessels, pipes, grills. The workers are involved in hot-rolling, polishing, loading-unloading and acid washing among other jobs, all done in a dangerous environment. Heavy machinery such as power presses are used at several units and these along with the use of acid often cause accidents, disabling numerous workers.

At the hot-rolling steel plants, workers work in groups of two. The helpers to the head masons require half-an-hour of rest for every half-an-hour of work put in. Thus, the workers trade places every half-an-hour. That’s in winters. In summers, the change-over takes place every 15 minutes because of the unbearable heat.

In 2002, new hot-rolling plants were introduced and with an increase of cheap migrant labour, the owners cancelled weekly holidays and brought in 12-hour shifts, as the furnaces in the plants took hours to fire up. After struggling for ten years, workers finally made some of the factory owners cave in and their demand for providing Employee State Insurance (ESI) cards and one holiday per week (Wednesday) was met in February, 2012.

The work itself is hazardous but the workers are left with no choice but to deal with the poor ventilation of illegal units, the agonising heat, the apathy of the employer-police nexus, and the absence of protective gear. Wazirpur has been a pivotal industrial area and its’ workers have gone through several struggles and protests for theirs rights and dues.

What troubles these workers most are the abysmally low wages. Though the law obligates the owners of industries/factories to pay double rate for overtime work, it is hardly ever the case. With an increased productivity from the worker and the smoothly running, fired up machines, the owner yields greater profit on the same rates.

Father of three kids, all of whom study in schools, Yadav has been working since the 1980s and has worked in several cities. While talking to NewsClick he said, “It is anyway hard to find work and the recent sealing of factories has disrupted the normal functioning. All of us sitting here have not got any work in the past four days.”

That is why there is support for the nationwide industrial strike called by ten central trade unions for January 8-9, seeking to fulfil a 12 point charter of demands. These include a rise in minimum wage to Rs.18,000, stoppage of disinvestment in Central/State PSUs, stoppage of contractorisation, universal social security cover for all workers, etc. The strike resonates with workers everywhere because, as a report of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), pointed out “77 per cent of Indian workers will be engaged in vulnerable employment by 2019”. Vulnerable employment includes work with wages below minimum wage, dangerous working conditions, unavailability of protective gear, and violation of labour laws.

Job Losses

Juhi, worked in a small scale industrial factory opposite to the Jahangirpuri metro station and sat at the ‘cutter’ in the factory. She had worked from 2009 to May 17, 2018, the day she was sacked. The annual hike in wage had been reduced this year, and when she questioned the owner about it, she was asked to “work quietly or leave”. After a week’s time, she was told to take her due and leave anyway.

When she went back to the factory to get her ‘service’ for ten years, she was told that there’s nothing due to her. ‘Service’ is payment of 15-day wage for every year of service, to be paid at the time of severance. In Juhi’s case, it would amount to five months wage, a precious sum for her that she has been cheated of. When the management refused, Juhi had to approach the local union, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and a case was filed on August 1.

She also talked about the discrepancy between the wage paid to men and women. “I receive Rs. 6,200 for a 12-hour shift and a man doing the same job gets more.” However, as a semi-skilled labourer, she should have been getting between Rs. 9,500-11,000, for 8 hours, and double rate for overtime hours. At the moment, Juhi is unemployed as most of the factories are only hiring workers who can do the job for a 12-hour shift.

“They also distort the number of holidays we take. If I took one holiday, they’ll write it as three holidays and cut the salary for five days. That’s why I ask my husband to keep a photocopy of his account,” she said.

The Declaration by the National Convention of Workers held on September 28, 2018, where the strike call for January 8-9 was announced, revealed through various surveys that there was a “loss of 70 lakh jobs with closure of 2.34 lakh small factory units in the first few months of demonetisation. The livelihood-loss of another 6 crore people in informal economy and about 17 lakh job losses in organised sector speaks about the grim ground reality.”

Satyaprakash who has worked for 7 years in Parvati Steel Pvt. Ltd., a popular factory that employs up to 50 workers, told NewsClick, “I work at a spoon making press and receive Rs. 340 for a 12-hour shift. But as I do not have any family, I am able to manage.”

Minimum Wage Implementation

In May 2017, the Delhi state government had announced a 37 per cent hike in minimum wages following a Board recommendation to that effect. However, Delhi High Court quashed the Aam Aadmi Party government’s notification by calling it “completely flawed” and “a decision taken in hurry.” The Delhi government challenged the HC decision in the apex court and the decision for a 37 per cent hike was restored for a period of three months, starting from November, 2018.

To ensure minimum wage to all workers, the Delhi government on December 4 launched a 10-day-drive ‘Operation Minimum Wage’.

“Under the drive, 10 teams of five officials each have been formed which will conduct raids at different locations across the city and will keep a check on the wages paid to the labourers according to their skills, said Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai,” reported The Times of India.

However, the relief for workers and trade unions is temporary as the Delhi government has to reconstitute the Minimum Wage Board and revise its method of fixing wages to arrive at new rates. Moreover, the course of implementing minimum wages is a long-drawn process and has been realised only in a few factories.

While speaking with NewsClick, Vipin, Delhi State Committee member, CITU, said, “We have resolved to confront the government with collective resistance.” The two-day general strike also aims at challenging the Modi government’s attempts to dilute the labour laws.