Battles Won
GM decides to reverse the layoff of 1,245 employees
The Sindmetal union, after a 13-day strike, sees this as a historic victory and has scheduled a meeting with GM officials to formalise the agreement. After a Brazilian labour court rejected the US automaker’s request for an injunction to support the layoffs on 3 November 2023, it has been mandated that the company cannot carry out any more layoffs of new employees without the necessary negotiations in advance.
Women in the Workforce
Makeover in Manipur: Trans-run beauty salons brave bloodshed
Kolkata: It’s hard to style hair, pluck brows and do makeovers when armed troops are on the streets suppressing months of deadly clashes Harder still if you’re a transgender 30-something running a professional salon in socially conservative India. But Bobbii Laishram is not ready to quit her job yet. “I set up Bobbii Hair Art Studio in September of 2012,” Laishram told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview.
Sanofi India’s Goa plant approves night shifts for women
Starting in December 2023, women will be working during the night shift at Sanofi India’s facility in Goa. This approval makes them the first in Goa to be allowed to work all shifts, including the late evening to early morning shift, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. This is a significant development for the company. To ease the transition, the company has asked for the consent of women employees, those willing to work during those times.
Childcare & maternity leaves for women in armed forces: Defence Ministry
On 5 November, 2023, the proposal to allow child care, maternity and child-adoption leave to female soldiers and sailors on par with their officer counterparts was approved by Defence Minister. Rajnath Singh. Currently, women officers in the three services are entitled to 180 days of maternity leave.
For Delhi’s women construction workers seeking better conditions, separate toilets only the first brick
Before leaving home for the under-construction apartment complex in south-east Delhi’s Jaitpur where she works from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Yasmin makes sure to relieve herself. The absence of a toilet at the building site and the closest facility located over a kilometre away force her and other women workers to do so. Wage disparity and a lack of skilled labour are also behind the low number of female labourers.
In the Courts
State A Model Employer, Can't Use Contractual Appointments To Deny Workers Service Benefits: Himachal Pradesh High Court
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has criticised the state government for its exploitative employment practices and observed that the state is expected to uphold the highest standards as a Model Employer and guardian of citizens' rights. A bench of Justices Vivek Singh Thakur and Bipin Chander Negi further added that offering contractual appointments at the outset, purely to withhold rightful benefits from employees, is inconceivable from the state.
Freedom Fighter Gets Pension After Waiting for 40 Years, Court Imposes Rs 20,000 Fine on Central Govt
The Delhi High Court has fined the Central government for Rs 20,000 due to its "lackadaisical approach" in a case concerning the pension of a 96-year-old freedom fighter. The Court called out the "sad state of affairs" which made the freedom fighter, Uttim Lal Singh, wait for around four decades for his pension.
Tailpiece
Why Mumbai’s shoeshine workers are fighting the railways in court
The workers are an indelible part of Mumbai’s local train network. But they fear that a new licensing policy will displace them and threaten their livelihoods. Ram was referring to the daily cut from his earnings that he and hundreds of shoeshine workers across Mumbai’s suburban train stations pay to the Indian railways.
Research
Annual Report on Digital Labour Platforms Shows Worker Pay Is Largely Below Living Wage
Zero of the 12 digital labour platforms evaluated in the Fairwork India 2023 report showed evidence of providing their workers with a living wage. Only three of the 12 — Bigbasket, Flipkart and Urban Company — ensured the local minimum wage after work-related costs.
Travails of Fisherfolk
Maldives imposes ₹2.27 crore fine on detained T.N. fishing boat
The Maldivian government has slapped a fine of ₹2.27 crore on a mechanised boat from Tharvaikulam in Thoothukudi district. The vessel was detained recently by the Maldivian Coast Guard for entering the island nation’s waters illegally. On October 1, the boat belonging to Antony Jayabalan set sail with 12 fishermen from Tharuvaikulam Fish Landing Centre.. On October 22, it drifted into Maldives’ waters due to inclement weather.
Dying at Work
If he had safety gear he would be alive: kin of Air India engineer who fell to death; cops file negligence case
For the family of Air India senior engineer Ram Prakash Singh, his fall to death while servicing an aircraft at Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3 has left them shattered. The 56-year-old had been working for 20 years with Air India Engineer Services Limited (AISEL). According to police, Singh sustained severe head injuries after he slipped from the stairs and fell headfirst from a height of 9-10 feet while servicing the aircraft.
7 dead after blast triggers fire at pharma factory in Maharashtra's Raigad
A fire broke out following a blast at a pharmaceutical company in Maharashtra's Raigad district on Friday. Seven people were killed and several others were injured in the incident.
2 workers die cleaning sewage tank in Gurgaon residential society
The incident took place at Raheja Navodaya residential society in Sector 92 on Monday. The police said the workers died of asphyxiation and a private company had the tender to clean the tank.
Climate Change and Workers
4,500 minerals extraction workers in Jalpaiguri jobless due to Sikkim flash flood
Around 4,500 persons engaged in the extraction of minor minerals such as sand, stones and pebbles from the Teesta have become jobless in Jalpaiguri district ahead of the festive season as a ripple effect of the October 4 flash flood in Sikkim. In Jalpaiguri district, 1,200 trucks carry the minor minerals from the Teesta riverbed every day. Usually, four workers work per truck to load and unload the items.
Pending Wages
Death Toll of HPC Mill Staff Rises to 116 in Assam
Delhi: Another paper mill employee of Cachar Paper Mill, a closed unit of the defunct Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC), passed away on Monday following a cardiac arrest. Manabendra Chakraborty, president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognized Unions (JACRU) told the Assam Tribune on Tuesday that the death toll of HPC Mill staff, including Nagaon Paper Mill, has risen to 116 now. The death toll includes four instances of committed suicides. The employees have not been paid their dues in around six years.
Battling Air Pollution
Delhi Pollution: Cloud of toxic air, uncertainty hangs over workers as many start leaving for home
The severe pollution in Delhi has led to the prohibition of construction activities, causing many labourers to worry about losing their income during the festival season.
Pollution rising, India Inc gets into action to help employees breathe easy
As New Delhi and Mumbai grapple with air pollution, with the national capital’s air quality described as equivalent to smoking 25 to 40 cigarettes a day, corporate India is taking action so that their employees can breathe a little better.
Several companies are banking on pandemic-era flexible work schedules until the air clears, and many government and private firms are also offering incentives such as low-cost loans to employees investing in green technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and solar cookers.
NTPC, for instance, is reimbursing employees for buying air purifiers, EV chargers, domestic solar thermal water heaters, and solar cookers.
Gig workers in India are exposed to highly polluted air and carcinogens, finds preliminary study
Food delivery workers, riding on two-wheelers, are breathing in highly polluted air, finds a study conducted in Ghaziabad. Delivery workers in Ghaziabad are exposed to particulate matter and volatile organic compounds at much higher levels than standards set by India’s Central Pollution Control Board and the World Health Organisation.
Air pollution and worker productivity
Environmental regulations are typically considered to be a drag on the economy. However, improved environmental quality may actually enhance productivity by creating a healthier workforce. Evidence suggests that improvements in air quality lead to improvements in worker productivity at the micro level across a range of sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, and the service sectors, as well as at more aggregate macro levels.
Caste in Employment
Bihar caste survey decoded: Data reveals alarming poverty, job challenges
34.13 per cent of all families in Bihar earn up to ₹6,000 per month while 29.61 per cent survive on ₹10,000 or even less. Only 1.57 per cent are government employees. Of these, 6.41 lakh persons are from upper castes.
Bihar Caste Survey: Where Are The Jobs?
The share of private jobs is even more dismal. What is the way forward? Political analysts Yogendra Yadav, Amitabh Tiwari, Rajat Sethi decode the findings with NDTV's Mayank Mishra in the Battle for States hosted by Vasudha Venugopal.
India’s Working Week
NR Narayana Murthy: Why Indians are debating a 70-hour work week
How many hours should a person work in a week? That's the question being asked in India over the past few days after software billionaire NR Narayana Murthy - the father-in-law of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - said that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development.
'You can’t demand 70 hours of work at salary of 40 hours.' CureFit founder Mukesh Bansal says no to virtue signalling, feels firms demanding long hrs need to create proportional upside
At 48 hours a week, Indians 6th most hardworking globally: ILO data
The ranking is based on taking the average number of hours per week for each employed person in India, which works out to 47.7 hours, according to the latest International Labour Organisation (ILO) data of April 2023.
This figure shows that Indians work longer than workers in China (46.1 hours), Vietnam (41.5 hours), Malaysia (43.2 hours), the Philippines (39.2 hours), Japan (36.6 hours), the United States (36.4 hours) and the United Kingdom (35.9 hours).
70-hour work week violates labour laws, compliance: TeamLease VP
Former Infosys CEO N R Narayana Murthy had recently advocated for a 70-hour work drawing reactions from across the spectrum. "If somebody is spending 70 hours (in office), they are going beyond 9 hours. There is a fundamental disconnect, when you are an employee labour law allows you to work 9 hours,"