Sreelatha Menon: Guests in the city

The only surety for migrant workers is the absence of guarantees as far as social security is concerned

The city is teeming with guests. They are migrant workers from neighbouring states who are in the city for work, for better income, for better living conditions and for everything else that makes the city attractive. They are mostly employed in the unorganised sector, as vendors, contract workers at construction sites, rickshaw-pullers or domestic workers.

The city does not seem to care for them. They stumble around learning the ways of the city till they are wiser and leave, probably a little less poor, or stay on to be part of it for the rest of their lives.

For most, the city means sub-human existence in filthy surroundings, no health care, no education for children, no security when jobs are lost, no ration cards and no one to address their grievances.

A report of the International Labour Organisation to be released this week focuses on social security for workers. Among its findings is that most of the world’s working population and their families lack effective access to comprehensive social protection and less than a third have employment accident insurance.

With this being the condition of the general worker, the lot of the migrant worker can only be worse. But even the worst situations have certain advantages.

For instance, they are mostly contract workers and the good thing about the contract labour system is that no one stays without work in the city. So, a worker who was thrown out of work from a factory after a lockout started working for another factory. But the bad thing is that the system offers no guarantees for wages, bonus, leave, or any other entitlement that separates a man from a beast of burden.

On health care, there is nothing for the poor migrant worker, except of course the Employees State Insurance Corporation. But it is not for unorganisd sector workers.

Primary health centres, which should be there in every neighbourhood, are few and not located in pockets which have a concentration of migrant workers. Child care seems to be the least of the priorities and migrant couples often slog it out for 16 to 20 hours a day in factories or outdoor sites while children stay at home uncared for.

Financial inclusion is a distant dream as it requires literacy. However, a positive sign is that queues in State Bank of India branches are becoming longer every day and managers are struggling to find enough personnel to cater to the huge demand. Without bank accounts, pension, insurance and savings benefits cannot be accessed.

The least they could ask for was their right to livelihood and basic wages.

In this regard, the trade unions have been taking up their cause. The unions have been organising workers according to their trades and this has helped the migrants. The All India Trade Union Congress, for instance, has been fighting for the right of 5 lakh rickshawpullers in Delhi to have a licence. According to the local law, the number of licences is capped at 90,000. So far, only 72,000 have been issued. The rest are exposed to harassment.

The good news is that the government has, after six decades, readied a social security programme. But, it is yet to be rolled out. There are no deadlines either.