http://www.PetitionOnline.com
Saturday, January 13, 2007
sign and support!
we are circulating an online petition demanding immediate enforcement of minimum wages and other legal rights of workers on campus, to be submitted to the Vice-chancellor of JNU. Please visit the link below and sign the petition to support the struggle.
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/jnu2007/petition.html
http://www.PetitionOnline.com
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Against bondage: the struggle in JNU continues
How can a family survive in Delhi on 65 rupees a day? On 14th November 2006, fifteen construction workers approached JNUSU with the complaint that instead of the 70 rupees they had been promised, they were being forced to accept 65 rupees a day. The legal minimum wage for Delhi is Rs. 127.40 per day! The very next day, the contractors threw these fifteen workers out of work, also refusing to pay them any money for work done in November.
Faced with non-payment of minimum wages on campus, JNUSU decided to step in. So as to determine the extent of the violations, we undertook a detailed survey at construction sites on campus. But as word reached the contractors, they threatened the workers into silence and obstructed the survey teams. Everywhere we saw an absence of basic facilities like drinking water, no muster rolls were found nor were any crèche facilities available to the workers children.
The issue at hand is part of a larger malaise: of the condition of the unorganized sector in our country today. Though they constitute over 90% of the total working populace, they possess no job security, no pension, no benefits or medical facilities. Back in Chattisgarh, there is little work in their villages and most own barely half a bigha of land. And, there are debts that mount and expenses to be paid --- the marriage of children, medical treatment, the repairs of houses submerged in monsoon floods. In the city, they move from place to place, uprooted at the contractors' will, dependent on their daily wages for survival.
On 22 November, JNUSU representatives met with JNU administration, emerging with a list of promises. We were promised that the workers would be reinstated and arrears would be paid to them. All contractors would be made to pay minimum wages. Muster rolls would be ensured at worksites and supervision of payments would take place. In addition, medical and toilet facilities would be provided to the workers and creche facilities extended to their children. We think that a victory of sorts has been achieved, and students and workers celebrate together.
But within a day, administration goes back on its word. Since they dared to take a stand, not only are these fifteen workers refused work, but they were also threatened in other ways. They are told the other 100 workers at the site would be set against them, incited to beat them up, and level false allegations against them. So as to prevent a situation of unrest, on 25 November we meet the rest of the workers at the School of Physical Sciences (SPS) site after they have finished work for the day. Initially a few people come, but slowly, a crowd gathers. Here too, they speak of depressed wages and the coercion of the contractors. Their children have no warm clothes and at night, mist drips through the roofs of their jhuggis.
On the 27th, as work is in progress at the SPS site, a woman is injured but sent away without adequate medical attention. This angers the workers who say they will not work until their legal entitlements are provided to them. The contractor, Jialal Malhotra, uses this opportunity to close work at the site. This is a clear case of coercion, since all these workers are dependent on their daily wages. Most have worked for only a week, and have as yet received no payment. Faced with looming food insecurity and the approaching winter, JNUSU decides to set up a community kitchen. We receive overwhelming support from several quarters: mess workers [who kickstart the kitchen], Mamu, Shombhu and Teflas Canteens [for lending us vessels], JNU Security [for daily transport of food supplies], JNUKA and JNUTA. Each evening, students and workers cook together in the open space behind SSS I [and later near the SCS building.] Yet the process is not easy, and the anger is often directed towards us. Still, the stalemate continues, still the contractor remains adamant and the administration pleads helplessness.
On 2 December, Malhotra finally agrees to make wage payments for the SPS site. But the wait has proved too long for many families. Two days earlier, the SPS basti emptied out --- a week without food or the promise of wages, entrapped in a debt cycle that began in the village, they are taken by their jobber to work elsewhere. Though he sends payments, Malhotra is not accountable to those who left. In the morning, officials from CPWD arrive, and sit clustered around a table, while outside the workers wait for their names to be called. The muster roll is clearly fabricated: many names are absent, lesser days of work were recorded, and skilled workers were paid at unsilled rates. As a result, JNU Engineering department is made to seize this document in the presence of representatives from JNUSU and JNUTA. Till date, the remaining payments for this site have not been made.
Following a unanimous all-party call, a protest-demonstration is called and a delegation meets the rector to pressurize for immediate payments. Within the weeks the other contractors, Chaudhary and Nafeez, also get ready to make payments. This time, we're ready with our own records, based on the jobber's register and labour recall, and force them to correct discrepancies on the muster rolls. The payments for November are made in full, but arrears are also paid for the earlier months when payments were made according to 65 rupees. This process of payments is a major step since minimum wages were finally enforced on campus. But the workers have been waiting for nearly a month, and the money will run out soon if they do not find work.
Finally, on 13 December, the fifteen workers find work at the SSS canteen. This should have been a cause for some relief, but that very afternoon, Dharamvir Singh of the JNU Engineering Department approached the contractor pressurizing him against employing such 'troublemakers.' The next day, under instructions from the Engineering Department, the contractor Chaudhary arrived and set his men to breaking the workers jhuggis. Everyone was at work and it was only when their children went crying to them that they realized that their houses were being destroyed. By the time JNUSU arrives, most of the damage has been done. The plastic covering was torn and broken bricks lay over tea cups and vessels, blankets and trunks. Of some houses, only the platform remains. This blatant act of violence is an attempt to dismiss a troublesome affair. We surround the contractor who panics at the sight of so many people. He tries to call administration, but no one from administration will come.
We proceed towards ad-block where we encounter Dharamvir Singh who refuses to acknowledge the contractor or admit to ordering the demolition of the jhuggis. Surprised by such amnesia, Chaudhary tells us that he paid 12 lakhs for the contract to Dharamvir Singh! We wait at the rectors office till the administration tells us: 'The workers should vacate the building.' They ask us to proceed downstairs, saying they will come down to talk. Once we’re outside, they close the gates. We wait for five minutes, half-an-hour, and then four hours. Briefly, the rector emerges to say that administration will only talk to the 'student's union.' We say that we, as students, are the union. We ask, 'Why is administration afraid of its own students?' The answer is, 'We are not afraid. But we prefer that you stay outside.'
For an entire month, JNUSU has been negotiating with the administration on a variety of issues. Yet most demands remained unfulfilled. To top it all, the administration was now refusing to even talk to us on the issue! At four 'o' clock, the decision is taken to enter ad-block through the side-gate. Thirty students storm up three flights of stairs, only to find security guards pushing to close the gate, though we manage to wedge it open. Inside, collective energies combine to create an uproar. It takes two more hours and several interactions with JNUTA and administration, before the Vice-Chancellor agrees to accept a memorandum and hold a meeting with us on the issue.
On Monday, 18 December, we walk into ad-block, up two flights of stairs, and into a room with white leather chairs. We drink tea in spotless cups and listen to the politics of paternal benevolence. They espouse the virtues of "due process" and tell us not to "create a situation where the contractor will stop work." They urge us to accept "the reality of the situation", saying that even if we ensure the payment of minimum wages on campus, these workers will not receive them elsewhere. But the reality of the situation is that the violation of minimum wages is a violation of the law. JNU is employing bonded labour.
We realize how extensive the problem of underpayment and casualisation is when approached by a group of safai karamcharis and gardeners, employed by the private firm Vayudoot. At the rate of 127.40 rupees per day, the legal monthly minimum income should be 3312 rupees. Instead, these workers are paid a flat rate of 2500 rupees, 600 rupees from their salary is cut for uniforms, and payments are made at the Noida office only after signing empty vouchers. Here again, for raising their voices, wages have been delayed, depressed and denied. 46 gardeners have been thrown out and safai karamcharis are working under the imminent threat of retrenchment. December's payments are yet to be made. Despite a sustained struggle by students and workers, the JNU administration as Principal Employer has not taken any concrete steps to enforce worker’s rights. Worse still, the contractor-JNU administration nexus has stepped up its oppression and compelled these workers to leave JNU.
Where are the accounts of where public money is being spent and why does administration flinch from giving them to us? If the cost of a bench being set up is 30,000 rupees then why does it shirk from providing the most basic facilities to its workers? Why does the principal employer claim helplessness before the contractors and then work in tandem with them to destroy the workers dwellings? And how can a campus that seeks international repute violate the most basic labour laws of the land? Such is the situation as it prevails today on campus. The point, however, is to change it.
JNU is built on progressive ideas and radical politics. It shall not be built on bonded labour. We have been taught that ideas exist in the presence of a community, and we will not accept a distancing of ideas and practise. We will not be alienated from those who work among us. Nor will we be alienated from the selves that we can be. We will not accept the compromises of administration nor its diktats seeking to curb protest. Against the 'reality of the situation', we will construct a politics of the possible.
We will not relent till answers are provided. We urge you to join the JNU workers-students struggle to implement workers rights on campus.
Faced with non-payment of minimum wages on campus, JNUSU decided to step in. So as to determine the extent of the violations, we undertook a detailed survey at construction sites on campus. But as word reached the contractors, they threatened the workers into silence and obstructed the survey teams. Everywhere we saw an absence of basic facilities like drinking water, no muster rolls were found nor were any crèche facilities available to the workers children.
The issue at hand is part of a larger malaise: of the condition of the unorganized sector in our country today. Though they constitute over 90% of the total working populace, they possess no job security, no pension, no benefits or medical facilities. Back in Chattisgarh, there is little work in their villages and most own barely half a bigha of land. And, there are debts that mount and expenses to be paid --- the marriage of children, medical treatment, the repairs of houses submerged in monsoon floods. In the city, they move from place to place, uprooted at the contractors' will, dependent on their daily wages for survival.
On 22 November, JNUSU representatives met with JNU administration, emerging with a list of promises. We were promised that the workers would be reinstated and arrears would be paid to them. All contractors would be made to pay minimum wages. Muster rolls would be ensured at worksites and supervision of payments would take place. In addition, medical and toilet facilities would be provided to the workers and creche facilities extended to their children. We think that a victory of sorts has been achieved, and students and workers celebrate together.
But within a day, administration goes back on its word. Since they dared to take a stand, not only are these fifteen workers refused work, but they were also threatened in other ways. They are told the other 100 workers at the site would be set against them, incited to beat them up, and level false allegations against them. So as to prevent a situation of unrest, on 25 November we meet the rest of the workers at the School of Physical Sciences (SPS) site after they have finished work for the day. Initially a few people come, but slowly, a crowd gathers. Here too, they speak of depressed wages and the coercion of the contractors. Their children have no warm clothes and at night, mist drips through the roofs of their jhuggis.
On the 27th, as work is in progress at the SPS site, a woman is injured but sent away without adequate medical attention. This angers the workers who say they will not work until their legal entitlements are provided to them. The contractor, Jialal Malhotra, uses this opportunity to close work at the site. This is a clear case of coercion, since all these workers are dependent on their daily wages. Most have worked for only a week, and have as yet received no payment. Faced with looming food insecurity and the approaching winter, JNUSU decides to set up a community kitchen. We receive overwhelming support from several quarters: mess workers [who kickstart the kitchen], Mamu, Shombhu and Teflas Canteens [for lending us vessels], JNU Security [for daily transport of food supplies], JNUKA and JNUTA. Each evening, students and workers cook together in the open space behind SSS I [and later near the SCS building.] Yet the process is not easy, and the anger is often directed towards us. Still, the stalemate continues, still the contractor remains adamant and the administration pleads helplessness.
On 2 December, Malhotra finally agrees to make wage payments for the SPS site. But the wait has proved too long for many families. Two days earlier, the SPS basti emptied out --- a week without food or the promise of wages, entrapped in a debt cycle that began in the village, they are taken by their jobber to work elsewhere. Though he sends payments, Malhotra is not accountable to those who left. In the morning, officials from CPWD arrive, and sit clustered around a table, while outside the workers wait for their names to be called. The muster roll is clearly fabricated: many names are absent, lesser days of work were recorded, and skilled workers were paid at unsilled rates. As a result, JNU Engineering department is made to seize this document in the presence of representatives from JNUSU and JNUTA. Till date, the remaining payments for this site have not been made.
Following a unanimous all-party call, a protest-demonstration is called and a delegation meets the rector to pressurize for immediate payments. Within the weeks the other contractors, Chaudhary and Nafeez, also get ready to make payments. This time, we're ready with our own records, based on the jobber's register and labour recall, and force them to correct discrepancies on the muster rolls. The payments for November are made in full, but arrears are also paid for the earlier months when payments were made according to 65 rupees. This process of payments is a major step since minimum wages were finally enforced on campus. But the workers have been waiting for nearly a month, and the money will run out soon if they do not find work.
Finally, on 13 December, the fifteen workers find work at the SSS canteen. This should have been a cause for some relief, but that very afternoon, Dharamvir Singh of the JNU Engineering Department approached the contractor pressurizing him against employing such 'troublemakers.' The next day, under instructions from the Engineering Department, the contractor Chaudhary arrived and set his men to breaking the workers jhuggis. Everyone was at work and it was only when their children went crying to them that they realized that their houses were being destroyed. By the time JNUSU arrives, most of the damage has been done. The plastic covering was torn and broken bricks lay over tea cups and vessels, blankets and trunks. Of some houses, only the platform remains. This blatant act of violence is an attempt to dismiss a troublesome affair. We surround the contractor who panics at the sight of so many people. He tries to call administration, but no one from administration will come.
We proceed towards ad-block where we encounter Dharamvir Singh who refuses to acknowledge the contractor or admit to ordering the demolition of the jhuggis. Surprised by such amnesia, Chaudhary tells us that he paid 12 lakhs for the contract to Dharamvir Singh! We wait at the rectors office till the administration tells us: 'The workers should vacate the building.' They ask us to proceed downstairs, saying they will come down to talk. Once we’re outside, they close the gates. We wait for five minutes, half-an-hour, and then four hours. Briefly, the rector emerges to say that administration will only talk to the 'student's union.' We say that we, as students, are the union. We ask, 'Why is administration afraid of its own students?' The answer is, 'We are not afraid. But we prefer that you stay outside.'
For an entire month, JNUSU has been negotiating with the administration on a variety of issues. Yet most demands remained unfulfilled. To top it all, the administration was now refusing to even talk to us on the issue! At four 'o' clock, the decision is taken to enter ad-block through the side-gate. Thirty students storm up three flights of stairs, only to find security guards pushing to close the gate, though we manage to wedge it open. Inside, collective energies combine to create an uproar. It takes two more hours and several interactions with JNUTA and administration, before the Vice-Chancellor agrees to accept a memorandum and hold a meeting with us on the issue.
On Monday, 18 December, we walk into ad-block, up two flights of stairs, and into a room with white leather chairs. We drink tea in spotless cups and listen to the politics of paternal benevolence. They espouse the virtues of "due process" and tell us not to "create a situation where the contractor will stop work." They urge us to accept "the reality of the situation", saying that even if we ensure the payment of minimum wages on campus, these workers will not receive them elsewhere. But the reality of the situation is that the violation of minimum wages is a violation of the law. JNU is employing bonded labour.
We realize how extensive the problem of underpayment and casualisation is when approached by a group of safai karamcharis and gardeners, employed by the private firm Vayudoot. At the rate of 127.40 rupees per day, the legal monthly minimum income should be 3312 rupees. Instead, these workers are paid a flat rate of 2500 rupees, 600 rupees from their salary is cut for uniforms, and payments are made at the Noida office only after signing empty vouchers. Here again, for raising their voices, wages have been delayed, depressed and denied. 46 gardeners have been thrown out and safai karamcharis are working under the imminent threat of retrenchment. December's payments are yet to be made. Despite a sustained struggle by students and workers, the JNU administration as Principal Employer has not taken any concrete steps to enforce worker’s rights. Worse still, the contractor-JNU administration nexus has stepped up its oppression and compelled these workers to leave JNU.
Where are the accounts of where public money is being spent and why does administration flinch from giving them to us? If the cost of a bench being set up is 30,000 rupees then why does it shirk from providing the most basic facilities to its workers? Why does the principal employer claim helplessness before the contractors and then work in tandem with them to destroy the workers dwellings? And how can a campus that seeks international repute violate the most basic labour laws of the land? Such is the situation as it prevails today on campus. The point, however, is to change it.
JNU is built on progressive ideas and radical politics. It shall not be built on bonded labour. We have been taught that ideas exist in the presence of a community, and we will not accept a distancing of ideas and practise. We will not be alienated from those who work among us. Nor will we be alienated from the selves that we can be. We will not accept the compromises of administration nor its diktats seeking to curb protest. Against the 'reality of the situation', we will construct a politics of the possible.
We will not relent till answers are provided. We urge you to join the JNU workers-students struggle to implement workers rights on campus.
SMASH THE CHAINS OF BONDAGE!!!
ENFORCE WORKERS' RIGHTS!!!
JNUSU Memorandum
JNUSU MEMORANDUM SUBMITTED TO VICE-CHANCELLOR, RECTOR, REGISTRAR, DEAN, JNU ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT ON 18 DECEMBER 2006.
STATUS: STILL AWAITING RESPONSE FROM JNU ADMINISTRATION!
Taking into account the developments on campus during the past month, JNUSU puts forward the following Charter of Demands:
[1] We reiterate our demand that the remaining wage payments be made for the School of Physical Sciences site by Jiyalal Malhotra and Company. We would also like to remind the administration that in a meeting with Professor Kale on 5th December, the assurance was given that these payments would be made. On 1st December, a part of the wage payments for work done at this site were made according to the muster roll provided Jiyalal and company. Consequently there have been several discrepancies in the payment: the names of several laborers were missing from the muster roll although they had worked for several weeks at the site. Furthermore, all laborers were given minimum wages for unskilled work, whereas there were also skilled workers [masons] whose labor was employed. Confronted with such discrepancies, the JNU engineering department in the presence of JNU faculty [Prof. Rohan d’Souza and Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy] and students seized and sealed the muster rolls. Having ascertained the correct wage claims by type of work, we demand the immediate opening of the seized muster roll and vouchers and handing over of their copies to JNUSU. We would like to remind JNU administration of its responsibility in terms of agreements already reached and call upon it to ensure that full wage payments are made for this site.
[2] On 14th December 2006, under instructions from the JNU engineering department , the contractor for the substation, Chaudhary came in the morning and set about breaking the hutments of the laborers. At that time all the laborers were away at work and only their small children were at home. The action of the contractor was both violent and arbitrary and could have led to serious injury. We strongly condemn the fact that such an illegal and inhumane action could be taken, that too without even informing the laborers beforehand. While JNUSU has been engaged in a discussion with the administration on this very issue, it is amazing that such heavy handed tactics were used to intimidate the workers. We sternly warn the administration to desist from such tactics. Also, the contractor must be made to pay Rs. 1000 per hut destroyed by way of compensation to the laborers.
[3] Dharamvir Singh of the Engineering Department has been consistently trying to intimidate both students and workers engaged in the struggle for minimum wages. It was under his instruction that the order was given to break the laborer’s huts. He has also persistently interfered in the process of wage payments by seeking to reduce and limit the wages that the contractors were undertaking to pay. His interference in the matter is all the more remarkable given that he made no attempt at any point to stop the gross violations of labor laws that were taking place on campus. Further, when four families of laborers were provided work on campus, Dharamvir Singh approached the contractor questioning why these people were given employment since they were responsible for the agitation of campus. The contractors themselves say that they have been undertaking various activities in campus under his orders. Let us remind administration that this is the officer in charge of water supply, under whose supervision twenty JNU tankers have been rusting and falling into disuse. Given his record of interference and non-performance of duties, we demand the suspension of Dharamvir Singh on these grounds and also call for the constitution of an enquiry committee, independent of the engineering department and comprising both JNUTA and JNUSU representatives to look into the malpractices of the engineering department.
[4] When the issue of labor rights was first raised on campus, on 22nd November the student representatives of JNUSU met with the administration and extracted a number of commitments on the issue. Till date most of these commitments are yet to be honored, although nearly a month has passed. We once again demand a time bound assurance on the following commitments:
· Details of all work taking place inside JNU, including estimates and names of contractors, be provided.
· The records of work which is being done with public money be made transparent and available for all so that there is accountability which can be ensured and such gross violations of workers rights be checked.
· Muster rolls to be issued and displayed at worksites and a copy made available on demand.
· Ensure minimum wages be paid to workers.
· Proper medical facilities along with worksite facilities be provided to workers for their period of work inside JNU. The JNU Health center facilities should be extended to the workers.
· Issuance of job cards
· Fix days for wage payments for workers at each site.
We would also like to make it clear that the promise of providing these records and facilities cannot be used as an excuse to suspend work as has been done by the engineering department over the past month.
[5] When faced with the demand to pay minimum wages, the contractors Chaudhary and Jialal Malhotra stopped work on their sites. As a disciplinary measure, workers who asked for minimum wages were retrenched This stoppage of work is being made out by the contractors as a result of the activities of the student union, but was in fact an attempt to discipline workers, to scare them into submission. Since these laborers are dependant on their daily wages for survival, this was an attempt not only to shirk responsibility but to intimidate and control workers. Its effectiveness as a tactic can be seen by the fact that of the 60 families employed on the site, only three remain. We demand that administration not plead helplessness [since it is the principal employer] and instead pressurize CPWD to restart work on both of these sites immediately. The JNU administration should refrain from alleging worker ‘indiscipline’ as the cause for stoppage of work.
[6] The lackadaisical attitude of JNU administration perpetuated a situation where the contractors were able to cease work at the two sites, thereby pushing these workers into a situation of food insecurity and acute deprivation. JNUSU and JNUTA were compelled to step in and run a community kitchen for retrenched workers and their families for an entire month. Due to the ineffectiveness of the principal employer to provide work or wages, we demand a complete refund of the expenses incurred in the running of the community kitchen.
[7] Given the extensive nature of recent construction on campus and the degree of violations and discrepancies that have emerged, we reiterate and stress our demand that the administration provide the student’s union details of all construction works taking place inside JNU, including estimates, accounts, tender documents, contracts and names of contractors, without any unnecessary or protracted delay. In addition, we demand that the administration provide details on the employment and contracts having to do with mess workers, safai karamcharis, gardeners and Group Four Security guards.
[8] Where minimum wages are not being paid to construction laborers, it has also come to our notice that full wage payments are not being made to the safai karamcharis [unskilled workers] and gardeners [skilled workers] on campus. Presently they have all been promised a flat rate of Rs. 2500 per month, whereas they should receive Rs. 3312 and Rs. 3736 respectively. [See JNU Office Order No. 94/ 2006] Wage payments for November and December are pending for over 80 laborers on campus. Vayudoot is claiming that since JNU administration has not released the cheque for payment it is not in a position to make these payments. The Contract Labour [Regulation and Abolition] Act, 1970 states that:
“The contractor is required to pay wages and a duty is cast on him to ensure disbursement of wages in the presence of the authorized representative of the Principal Employer. In case of failure on the part of the contractor to pay wages either in part or in full, the Principal Employer is liable to pay the same.”
WE DEMAND THE JNU ADMINISTRATION RECOGNIZE ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS PRINCIPAL EMPLOYER AND ENSURE IMMEDIATE WAGE PAYMENTS TO THESE WORKERS.
ANY ATTEMPTS MADE IN THE INTERIM PERIOD TO THREATEN OR RETRENCH WORKERS WILL BE MET WITH STIFF RESISTANCE.
Within this week we demand a positive response from JNU administration on all issues raised in this memorandum. We reiterate our stance that the administration realize the gravity of the issues at hand, take measures to remedy the violations of worker’s rights in the prevailing situation, and step forward to accept and act upon its responsibilities as principal employer.
STATUS: STILL AWAITING RESPONSE FROM JNU ADMINISTRATION!
Taking into account the developments on campus during the past month, JNUSU puts forward the following Charter of Demands:
[1] We reiterate our demand that the remaining wage payments be made for the School of Physical Sciences site by Jiyalal Malhotra and Company. We would also like to remind the administration that in a meeting with Professor Kale on 5th December, the assurance was given that these payments would be made. On 1st December, a part of the wage payments for work done at this site were made according to the muster roll provided Jiyalal and company. Consequently there have been several discrepancies in the payment: the names of several laborers were missing from the muster roll although they had worked for several weeks at the site. Furthermore, all laborers were given minimum wages for unskilled work, whereas there were also skilled workers [masons] whose labor was employed. Confronted with such discrepancies, the JNU engineering department in the presence of JNU faculty [Prof. Rohan d’Souza and Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy] and students seized and sealed the muster rolls. Having ascertained the correct wage claims by type of work, we demand the immediate opening of the seized muster roll and vouchers and handing over of their copies to JNUSU. We would like to remind JNU administration of its responsibility in terms of agreements already reached and call upon it to ensure that full wage payments are made for this site.
[2] On 14th December 2006, under instructions from the JNU engineering department , the contractor for the substation, Chaudhary came in the morning and set about breaking the hutments of the laborers. At that time all the laborers were away at work and only their small children were at home. The action of the contractor was both violent and arbitrary and could have led to serious injury. We strongly condemn the fact that such an illegal and inhumane action could be taken, that too without even informing the laborers beforehand. While JNUSU has been engaged in a discussion with the administration on this very issue, it is amazing that such heavy handed tactics were used to intimidate the workers. We sternly warn the administration to desist from such tactics. Also, the contractor must be made to pay Rs. 1000 per hut destroyed by way of compensation to the laborers.
[3] Dharamvir Singh of the Engineering Department has been consistently trying to intimidate both students and workers engaged in the struggle for minimum wages. It was under his instruction that the order was given to break the laborer’s huts. He has also persistently interfered in the process of wage payments by seeking to reduce and limit the wages that the contractors were undertaking to pay. His interference in the matter is all the more remarkable given that he made no attempt at any point to stop the gross violations of labor laws that were taking place on campus. Further, when four families of laborers were provided work on campus, Dharamvir Singh approached the contractor questioning why these people were given employment since they were responsible for the agitation of campus. The contractors themselves say that they have been undertaking various activities in campus under his orders. Let us remind administration that this is the officer in charge of water supply, under whose supervision twenty JNU tankers have been rusting and falling into disuse. Given his record of interference and non-performance of duties, we demand the suspension of Dharamvir Singh on these grounds and also call for the constitution of an enquiry committee, independent of the engineering department and comprising both JNUTA and JNUSU representatives to look into the malpractices of the engineering department.
[4] When the issue of labor rights was first raised on campus, on 22nd November the student representatives of JNUSU met with the administration and extracted a number of commitments on the issue. Till date most of these commitments are yet to be honored, although nearly a month has passed. We once again demand a time bound assurance on the following commitments:
· Details of all work taking place inside JNU, including estimates and names of contractors, be provided.
· The records of work which is being done with public money be made transparent and available for all so that there is accountability which can be ensured and such gross violations of workers rights be checked.
· Muster rolls to be issued and displayed at worksites and a copy made available on demand.
· Ensure minimum wages be paid to workers.
· Proper medical facilities along with worksite facilities be provided to workers for their period of work inside JNU. The JNU Health center facilities should be extended to the workers.
· Issuance of job cards
· Fix days for wage payments for workers at each site.
We would also like to make it clear that the promise of providing these records and facilities cannot be used as an excuse to suspend work as has been done by the engineering department over the past month.
[5] When faced with the demand to pay minimum wages, the contractors Chaudhary and Jialal Malhotra stopped work on their sites. As a disciplinary measure, workers who asked for minimum wages were retrenched This stoppage of work is being made out by the contractors as a result of the activities of the student union, but was in fact an attempt to discipline workers, to scare them into submission. Since these laborers are dependant on their daily wages for survival, this was an attempt not only to shirk responsibility but to intimidate and control workers. Its effectiveness as a tactic can be seen by the fact that of the 60 families employed on the site, only three remain. We demand that administration not plead helplessness [since it is the principal employer] and instead pressurize CPWD to restart work on both of these sites immediately. The JNU administration should refrain from alleging worker ‘indiscipline’ as the cause for stoppage of work.
[6] The lackadaisical attitude of JNU administration perpetuated a situation where the contractors were able to cease work at the two sites, thereby pushing these workers into a situation of food insecurity and acute deprivation. JNUSU and JNUTA were compelled to step in and run a community kitchen for retrenched workers and their families for an entire month. Due to the ineffectiveness of the principal employer to provide work or wages, we demand a complete refund of the expenses incurred in the running of the community kitchen.
[7] Given the extensive nature of recent construction on campus and the degree of violations and discrepancies that have emerged, we reiterate and stress our demand that the administration provide the student’s union details of all construction works taking place inside JNU, including estimates, accounts, tender documents, contracts and names of contractors, without any unnecessary or protracted delay. In addition, we demand that the administration provide details on the employment and contracts having to do with mess workers, safai karamcharis, gardeners and Group Four Security guards.
[8] Where minimum wages are not being paid to construction laborers, it has also come to our notice that full wage payments are not being made to the safai karamcharis [unskilled workers] and gardeners [skilled workers] on campus. Presently they have all been promised a flat rate of Rs. 2500 per month, whereas they should receive Rs. 3312 and Rs. 3736 respectively. [See JNU Office Order No. 94/ 2006] Wage payments for November and December are pending for over 80 laborers on campus. Vayudoot is claiming that since JNU administration has not released the cheque for payment it is not in a position to make these payments. The Contract Labour [Regulation and Abolition] Act, 1970 states that:
“The contractor is required to pay wages and a duty is cast on him to ensure disbursement of wages in the presence of the authorized representative of the Principal Employer. In case of failure on the part of the contractor to pay wages either in part or in full, the Principal Employer is liable to pay the same.”
WE DEMAND THE JNU ADMINISTRATION RECOGNIZE ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS PRINCIPAL EMPLOYER AND ENSURE IMMEDIATE WAGE PAYMENTS TO THESE WORKERS.
ANY ATTEMPTS MADE IN THE INTERIM PERIOD TO THREATEN OR RETRENCH WORKERS WILL BE MET WITH STIFF RESISTANCE.
Within this week we demand a positive response from JNU administration on all issues raised in this memorandum. We reiterate our stance that the administration realize the gravity of the issues at hand, take measures to remedy the violations of worker’s rights in the prevailing situation, and step forward to accept and act upon its responsibilities as principal employer.
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