Field Diary 2023: January

A Glance Into The Lives Of Workers With Bite-Sized Stories From Factories, Homes & Communities

Digital Natives: When Cividep began digital literacy and computer training sessions for leather homeworkers of Ambur last year, 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. And so, 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. 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.

Hidden Costs: From the many learnings coming out of Cividep’s research on the health of garment workers, reproductive health seems to be a major area of concern. Many workers have reported irregular menstrual cycles, which could be attributed to erratic food and water intake in between hectic work schedules. Some workers suspect that the nature of work affects their ability to conceive.  A detailed report on the findings of this research study is to be released soon.

Coming Together To Claim Rights: Garment workers worried by arbitrary management decisions to terminate those who take leave, or are dumped with work with no benefits, got a patient hearing at a Workers’ Resource Centre in Bengaluru recently (shown in pic). In one case, the management trimmed the workforce by dismissing those who had taken more than two days of leave. The visiting workers also talked about how many of them were being told to work on a piece-rate basis without social security benefits. Advocate Nirmala spoke to the workers about the possible grievance redressal mechanisms within factories. They were also told about the importance of being part of collectivisation to have effective negotiations with the management.

Guide To Good Health: Guess what is the main health issue faced by garment workers? Malnutrition. Dr. Sukanya Rangamani of the Indian Council of Medical Research identified malnutrition as the core issue that triggers many health problems among garment workers. She said it was important to create informative guides and health checklists within factory premises to create awareness. This was part of a consultation on ways to improve the health of workers.

**Images: Pramod, Kohila Senbagam
***Text: Kohila Senbagam, Kaveri M.T, Deepak Nikarthil, Pramod Kumar