Appeal for Support for Grassroots Bangalore Street Cleaners Union

Even dead and rotting carcasses of animals have to be removed. No basic amenities for them, like gumboots, gloves and masks, all of which ought to be provided under the Contract Labour Act. They do not even receive the minimum wage as prescribed by the Government of Karnataka. The principal employer, the City Corporation – Bangalore Mahanagara Pallike (BMP) - which has a legal and moral obligation to see that the rights of these workers under the Contract Labour Act be protected, has allowed this illegal oppression to continue for the last ten years.

The powrakarmikas have been waging a fight for their rights through their union, the Bangalore Mahanagara Pallike Guttige Powrakarmikara Sangha. This fight has gone on for the past five years. The BMP and its contractors responded with incremental wage increases, and promises of improvements in the future. The state government also turned a consistent blind eye to the issue. It needed the consistent struggle of the workers to keep the issue alive.

At long last, on 29th August, 2002, the Karnataka Government issued a Gazette Notification declaring an interim minimum wage of Rs.1800 per month for the contract powrakarmikas. Since that date, the workers have a clear legal claim on the minimum wage. Nearly a year has elapsed since the notification. First the BMP took time up till November to notify a fresh tender, with the tender conditions specifically prescribing payment of the notified minimum wages of Rs.1800, and to issue tenders to a new set of contractors. Then the file was sent to the office of the Chief Minister for his approval, which took up till end January. Then the existing contractors went on appeal against the issue of the new tenders. The Karnataka High Court passed a clear judgment declaring the situation as illegal, and directing the BMP to bring into effect new tenders from 19th May 2003, ensuring payment of Rs.1800 per month to all contract powrakarmikas, and all other amenities due to them under the Contract Labour Act. But the powrakarmikas are still awaiting the payment of the notified minimum wage. Finally, in May 2003, a year after the High Court Judgment, the contractors were directed to pay the enhanced wages by the Karnataka Government.

Last year (2007), in March, the BBMP has entered into new contracts with 30 contractors in this regard. The total monthly amount of these contracts is about 7 crores. The struggle of the powrakarmikas has ensured that BBMP, in these new contracts, increased the wages to Rs. 2200 and made ESI and PF applicable to contract powrakarmikas as well. The struggle is still far from over. The henchmen of the contractors have pressurized workers in all the wards to return between Rs.100-300 of the wages paid to them. Further the ESI cards that have been issued, if at all, are worthless since the ESI dispensaries/hospitals refuse to recognize them. The amounts that are being deducted for PF are arbitrary and the workers are yet to be given their PF numbers. This is the time when organising the workers and keeping the struggle for fair wages and working conditions is of utmost importance.

The struggle of the union has been kept alive from contributions from the powrakarmikas, and from voluntary donations from concerned individuals and groups. This has not been easy. The union currently supports two full-time activists, giving them subsistence wages. It has to bear further expenses for the struggle of printing pamphlets, visiting wards and conducting meetings. All the legal expenses excluding lawyer fees (all legal services have been free of cost) have to be borne. A regular system of health camps has also been started by the union with the help of concerned doctors to keep track of health conditions of workers and their families in different wards. The union expects this period of intense struggle to continue for the next one year, before it can be ensured that all workers are paid the legally defined minimum wage, and they can support financially the union functions. It has requested urgent support for this phase of the struggle.

You can donate via paypal to No Sweat supporter Richard Whittell, who is out in Bangalore. Log in to paypal, click on send money and put richard.whittell@gmail.com in the email field. Simple as that. Please mark the donation in the message field so that Richard knows it is for the Union.

N. Anjaneyalu Krishna Du. Saraswati Clifton D’ Rozario
(President)