Trade union protests against contract labour issues in TN

Tamil Nadu-based trade union United Labour Federation (ULF), with the support of the National Forum Against Contract Work, is conducting a 90-day campaign in the major industrial areas of Tamil Nadu, against alleged labour issues.

ULF has conducted a three-day protest against the issues related to the contract labour in the industrial belt of Oragadam, Maraimalai Nagar and Thiruvallur. The belt is home to multinationals, including Hyundai, Nissan, Caterpillar, Nokia, Foxconn and their suppliers.

“Large-scale employment of precarious labour is taking place in the direct manufacturing processes in these industrial areas,” alleged ULF leaders. The contract labourers, who are doing the same work as permanent workers, are exploited. There is also a delay from the government departments in conciliation proceedings and lack of inspections by the labour department, the National Forum Against Contract Work alleged.

 

The federation is urging the Tamil Nadu government to form a task force, headed by a retired high court judge, along with labour representatives, to investigate the working conditions and the nature of work inside the manufacturing units, said V Prakash, a lawyer and honourary president of ULF.

He recently held a three-day hunger strike in Sriperumbudur to seek attention of the government and international labour unions.

“We are planning a campaign over the next three months to create awareness about the issues among the workers,” said Rakhi Sehgal of National Forum Against Contract Work and spokesperson of ULF.

The Forum has submitted a draft amendment Bill for contract labours with the central government in August-September 2011. But, there is no response from the Union labour ministry, she said.

Responding to the allegations, Hyundai Motor India Limited said that “there is no room for differential treatment as the tasks are clearly defined.”

“Contract workers are engaged only in non-critical and outside-core production areas of work like house- keeping, security, drivers in the stock yard and material handling. And, they are from reputed corporates like TVS & Sons and are statutorily covered under the government laws,” said a company spokesperson.

“Further, the contract workers are on the rolls of their respective agencies. They are governed by the codes of conduct as framed by that company. On our premises, we extend facilities like canteen, festival gifts and transportation to them,” said Sethuraman, senior vice-president (finance and corporate affairs), Hyundai Motor India.

The trainees in the production lines are inducted as per the approved numbers from the state government and a highly-competitive stipend is paid to them and are absorbed into the permanent workforce depending on their performance appraisals, he added.

Nokia India said that its hiring of contract labours was by abiding the Contract Labour Regulation Act (CLRA). Poonam Kaul, director (communications), Nokia, said, “contract labourers are hired on a need basis, under the CLRA.”