Interview with Mr. Pradeep, Ms. Padma, Mr. Praveen and Ms. Arunakka, representatives of IFTU

“In case of accidents leading to injury or death of the contract worker on the shopfloor, managements hush them up unless a strong union intervenes to claim compensation and care.  The contract worker is helpless without a union.”

Health problems, issues, calamities faced by workers in and around Hyderabad

There are many health problems and safety risks faced by workers in Hyderabad, and elsewhere.   It depends on the industry, factory or sector that they work in. The accident and health hazards also differ depending on the industry. In Jeedimetla industrial area of Hyderabad, there are many different kinds of factories with various processes. In general, factories don’t give protective gear to the workers, for example, masks, gloves, etc.  Injuries and ill-effects of work place are not taken care of.  Sometimes, it is difficult for the workers to even ask for protective gear — e.g., in a paint manufacturing unit, it is not clear whether it is an ordinary raw material process or a chemical industry.  There are many chemical units in Jeedimetla and there have recently been accidents where a chemical reactor blast has occurred.  Workers have died due to the direct force of the blast, and also due to the inhalation of the gases that come out after the blast.

Workers’ status and ESI provision

ESI usually works for permanent workers but not for contract workers.  Often, for the contract workers, it is the daya or mercy of the contractor which provides compensation.  Legally ESI is supposed to apply, but since the worker is not registered and no card is available to the worker, ESI is refused.  Often the employer deducts the ESI payment from the worker’s wage but does not remit the requisite amount in the ESI account.  When this happens, the employee who needs ESI health care is turned away – she is punished for the failure of her employer.  When the ESI is paid, they are immediately referred.

One example of health insurance related problems is with government educational institutions like HCU and EFLU.  There are many jobs done by contract workers, under a dummy contractor so that the institution can avoid having these workers in the permanent rolls of the institution.  Here the institution deducts money from the wages paid to the worker, but does not give the worker a pay slip with the deduction clearly marked.  This is because if the worker collects the slips, it is possible to make a case for permanent employment.  IFTU has struggled for 2 years to get these workers minimum wages.  Now the task is to get ESI and PF for all the contract workers in these institutions.  IFTU has also succeeded in getting contract workers the facility of health care treatment in the university health centre.  Normally about 5% of the workers in such institutions will have ESI and PF.  In general, when ESI and Mediclaim facility is not there, and the contract workers don’t have a union, it is convenient for the management.  If there is no ID, there is no proof to pursue the case.

In the Beedi industry, which is largely home-based work, it is extremely difficult to get uniformity and surety of wages. It is also difficult to unionize because it is based on door to door canvassing.  The risks to the beedi worker if she is found to attempt unionization are very high since the contractor can shut off raw material supply to the whole locality.  Beedi work has lots of work related ailments such as nausea, breathing trouble, etc.  There are no health care or health insurance schemes for beedi workers. ESI does not apply here as most workers are unrecognized. There is a Central Cess fund that is put aside, which is being used by the government to provide a doctor in the basti and some health care.

Arogyasri for unorganized workers

Aarogyasri cases are few and the scheme is used only in case of catastrophic illness.  In slums these are heart, kidney, gynecological problems.  The Aarogyasri programme is useful but the procedure is lengthy.  The private sector makes a good benefit from this.  However the government hospitals are weak.  The Aarogyasri patients are treated better in private hospitals than in government hospitals. The latter have too many patients and are overloaded. Even if the government pays for the patient, attention is not available. In private hospitals it is better but paying patients are treated better than Aarogyasri ones.  IFTU would like the government hospitals to be strengthened.  In the industrial area they tend to discourage patients from coming more than once a year to a hospital on Aarogyasri, even if they are well below the maximum limit of expenditure.

Advantages of ESI

ESI is working better now than previously.  The advantage with ESI is that when the worker goes to ESI with an ailment, not only does she get treated, but she also gets paid leave according to the doctor’s recommendations.  This payment is made by the ESI itself.  ESI doctors can recommend even six months leave and pay the worker some decreasing fraction of the wage.  Workers need ESI, and in Aarogyasri they need the facility to take leave with pay.  The trouble with most employees is that they don’t know the existence of ESI.  Education is necessary.

Universities are a different category of institution.  They are autonomous bodies in almost all aspects of their functioning including hiring workers and providing health care.  The ways in which they deal with health care is different in each case and depends on that institution’s history.  Sometimes the universities are good in health care coverage for students, faculty and administration and discriminatory with respect to contract workers.  In other cases the universities maintain an excellent record of health care even for contract workers.  Union struggle strategies must be developed in each case with special attention to specific conditions.

The ESI system itself has recently been conducting counseling centres and melas in the bastis to educate people about this but the process is slow.  ESI should be made more efficient to handle small problems.  Now there are so many private hospitals in Jeedimetla – they thrive because there is no ESI.  If there is good ESI network, more people will benefit and these hospitals would reduce.  In general the ESI and PF are not available to more than 2% of the working population.

Making ESI work for workers in unorganized sector

With respect to ESI, the strategy followed by IFTU is a uniform blanket implementation of all labour laws so that benefits are available.  For example there are 70,000 pit loom workers in Panipat for whom the IFTU demand is to implement uniform labour laws.There are different strategies to be followed for government contract workers and private contract workers.  Some depend on ESI and others don’t.

In the private sector:

  1. Spreading awareness of ESI is an important educational activity for workers.
  2. It is important to fight for an increase in the number of ESI hospitals.
  3. The unique ID card system is not yet perfected – if this unique ID card is there, it is possible to keep track of the patient, and in return the worker too can claim some identity and assistance on the basis of proof of membership.  For this reason, IFTU would also support the current UID Aadhar card programme in the country – if the worker’s identity card in the place of work is not given, he suffers because of that lack.  If Aadhar is giving some benefits, why not accept them and make use of the card?
  4. The unions or activists must fight for full implementation of ESI, and make Factories Inspectorate and  Labour department work.  The problem of health, worker welfare and management responsibility will improve only when these departments function well.

For government institutions:

  1. There is no continuity of service in these institutions – workers are taken depending on need, resulting in general wage insecurity and a total lack of health coverage when they need it.
  2. There is no compensation for death in these institutions.  At least compensation for death should be there.
  3. Contract workers with these institutions must fight for access to health centres for free medical aid.
  4. Contract workers are only covered individually.  We must fight for insurance for the family also.
  5. It must be possible to have ESI or other insurance for health as long as one lives – it is like a pension benefit.

The elusive nature of social security in the informal sector—some insights:

  • Construction industry is totally unregulated and has no health coverage, where there is a high risk of accidents and injuries. They have small health benefits – maximum 30,000 rupees if a person dies.
  • In Hyderabad, there are 2 lakh autorickshaws and 3-4 lakh auto drivers with no ESI, no PF, no accident compensation and even third party insurance is sometimes too expensive to take.
  • Brick kiln workers have no water supply, no medical assistance. Hamali workers – there are no laws for back breaking work.
  • In the non-formal sector, migrant labour is more likely to be militant and better unionized.
  • Workers who have a family to look after cannot stand up against the management malpractice.
  • Most brick kiln workers come from Kalahandi – in many cases, this miserable work environment is better than their home environment from where they have migrated.