What’s In The 2023 Field Diary? Worker Stories of Struggles & Hope

Notes From Cividep’s Field Team Show How Economic Shifts Led To Job Insecurities & Financial Uncertainties Among Workers In Global Value Chains 

A few months into 2023, Cividep’s field team started seeing signs of distress among workers with many reporting sporadic employment and even, layoffs. The team monitors industry practices in leather, electronics and garment manufacturing sectors, and it noticed increased outsourcing by factories, unequal or deferred bonus, and pressure on workers nearing gratuity payouts leading to resignations.

During the festive season, electronics factory workers in Sriperumbudur were offered household equipment instead of cash bonuses by employers. Layoffs especially affected contract workers without appointment letters. In Ambur and Tirupattur, gradual shutdowns in the leather industry led to layoffs, creating difficulties for affected workers accessing Provident Fund (PF) dues.

These trends sparked discussions at Cividep’s Workers’ Resource Centres (WRCs) on fair work targets, factory conditions, and the equitable treatment of workers. The team also focused on addressing the information gap that often leaves low-wage workers unaware of their basic rights. It organised:

• Training sessions to help those laid off access PF and other entitlements 
• Legal awareness sessions & information regarding collective bargaining, grievance mechanisms
• Workshops on government social security schemes and how to access them 

Through this turmoil, field officers kept up the momentum by finding new ways to reach workers. Read about their tech-driven outreach.

FIELD DIARY: Cividep’s field officers are dab hands when finding solutions to knotty problems. Take, for instance, the unending struggle of electronics factory workers to access their Employee Provident Fund (EPF) online accounts. This is one problem that field officers Nanthini and Nandhini are repeatedly presented with during their outreach work in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. Workers find it difficult to access their accounts especially because the EPF website and portal area are not that mobile-friendly. So, the duo has made it a point to carry laptops while on the field and this decision has paid off. Recently, they were able to help five workers resolve their issues on the spot. This included rectifying name and birth date mismatch, sorting PF claim rejection, facilitating total claim withdrawal, and helping merge old and new PF accounts. Looks like tech has its place in the field.

Health Concerns Come To The Fore

The Cividep team doubled down on understanding and improving the health challenges faced by factory and homeworkers in 2023. Comprehensive studies on electronics workers’ health prompted a collaborative Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) workshop. Cividep’s research reports pointed to how poor working conditions lead to or worsen health problems, especially in the case of women workers. For instance, reproductive health issues faced by women garment workers seem to have a correlation with hectic workdays that don’t factor in sufficient water and toilet breaks. 

The team undertook various interventions aimed at enhancing health and wellbeing of workers. Some of these were: 

• Creation of informative guides in factories to raise awareness about health & wellbeing
• Provided easily accessible guidebooks in Tamil to leather homeworkers on the effects of remote work on health
• Organised sessions on government health schemes, first aid training, & workshops on the interconnectedness of gender, occupational health and safety 

New Initiative: Dial ‘ILL’ For Help

In a new development, Cividep began running the Tamil Nadu state chapter of the India Labour Line (ILL), a national helpline for informal and migrant workers. The Chennai-based team mapped more than 60 informal labour hotspots across the city and nearby districts. They also reached out to workers with the helpline number (1-800-833-9020 ) to address wage theft, delay in payment, and working conditions without recourse to grievance redressal mechanisms. 

In one instance, the ILL team helped authorities rescue 11 migrant workers held against their will after tracing their workplace in Chennai. It also helped bring to light the plight of workers facing job fraud and exploitation while being employed in another country. 

 Where There Is A Community, There Is A Way

In the past year, the team found various ways to improve and strengthen a sense of community among workers. As it isn’t easy to bring together workers, the team embarked on several innovative means to do so, apart from the regular study circles on legal awareness and gaps in social security measures. Some initiatives stand out:

• Creative use of puppet shows to talk about rights and entitlements
• Freewheeling discussions on gender violence, and low female labour force participation triggered conversations about societal norms on employment, and career growth post-marriage
• Self-defense sessions that teach workers to protect themselves
• Workshops to hone communication, leadership, and gender-related issue resolution skills
• Worker leaders-led study circles to pave way for more informed discussions
• Counseling and legal aid that addressed spousal abuse, and support disengaged school-going children

One worker empowerment initiative in Ambur became a runaway hit with the children of leather homeworkers – computer classes. Read about this heartwarming development. 

FIELD DIARY: When Cividep began digital literacy and computer training sessions for leather homeworkers of Ambur in 2022, it found favour among a different cohort – the homeworkers’ children. This was when homeworkers complained of a lack of opportunity to practice their newfound skills in the course of hectic days spent stitching shoes. Some were not too keen on computers while others said their children were more interested in computers. Thus, the team began additional training sessions for the eager children who had already proven their digital savviness during peak pandemic times by helping their mothers participate in Cividep’s online worker meetings over Whatsapp and other platforms. It looks like children will soon teach their mothers a thing or two about computers – they have proved to be quick learners in these classes, as seen in the accompanying picture.

Contributors: Gokhularaj R, Pramod Kumar, Kohila Senbagam, Kaliyaperumal Narayanan, Kaveri MT, Nandhini K, Nanthini S,  Soniya B, Elamathi S, Gokhulavasan P, Preethi Gowda