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Center for Social Policy
McCormack Graduate School
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
Phone: (617) 287 5550
Fax: (617) 287 5544
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Movement aims to give informal workers a voice:
Without contracts, India's laborers often shortchanged in payment, job security
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Author(s):
Poornima Apte
Source(s):
India New England
(actual article)
Date: October 15, 2004
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You see them everywhere in India: people working at construction sites, women selling vegetables at
the roadside, or gardeners working flower beds in upscale buildings.
Together, they constitute a working sector that is termed the "informal" job market.
"It is important that we study the informal jobs in India, because outside of agriculture,
they constitute 83 percent of India's workforce," said Françoise Carré, a faculty member at
the University of Massachusetts Boston's Center for Social Policy.
Carré spoke at a talk hosted by the center on Oct. 4. About 50 people participated in a
discussion titled, "Globalization of Production and Poverty: Informal Jobs in India."
The other presenters at the talk were: Martha Chen, of Harvard University; Renana Jhabvala,
the national coordinator of India's Self Employed Women's Association; and Jeemol Unni, of
the Gujarat Institute of Development Research.
Carré reminded the audience that informal jobs are not marginal, even though they are treated
as such in developing countries.
Chen highlighted some of the poor working conditions that these jobs create, which include
low earnings, no access to health care, occupational hazards, lack of social protection laws,
lack of organization and representation, and no job security.
"These people need a voice," Chen said. "They need visibility and changes in their work
environment."
Chen is encouraged by global movements that bring these workers' plights to attention
including groups such as Self Employed Women's Association, which have galvanized and
empowered desperately poor, working women in India.
Unni, who spoke about the structure of the labor force in India, said that even self-employed
workers in the informal job market, such as women who make agarbattis (incense sticks) or
dresses, rely on an external agent to keep their jobs going.
"They are dependent on others for the supply of work, for the raw materials or even for
the sale of finished goods," she said.
This often means they are shortchanged in terms of payment and job security. "They don't
have a contract," Unni said. "Sometimes it is just a verbal contract. Even for domestic
workers employed by households, it is really difficult."
Jhabvala said starting the women's association was a challenge in itself. When she brought
up the idea of starting a union for women who work in the informal job sector, she was
told that the work was part-time, that the women worked in their spare time and that
they should be happy to have jobs in the first place.
As case studies have shown, nothing could be further from the truth. Women often work
long hours for less than minimum wage in informal jobs.
"When we described it as a labor union, people would say, 'But there is no company, where
is the employer?'" Jhabvala said.
She said it is a challenge to improve the lot of such women, but she is encouraged to see
the strides her group is making into more states in India.
Audience members asked the presenters questions. One addressed literacy concerns among the
women.
Jhabvala said her group has worked with women on specific literacy skills, such as
reading instructions off boxes of dye or learning to sign one's name.
"Often these women are not interested in literacy, only in enough that will get their job
done," she said.
An audience member was intrigued by the visible lack of technology in the jobs being
done.
"Is it just my Western eyes," she asked, "but these jobs could be more efficient with
machines."
Unni agreed that machines would make things better but she added that the rapid advances
in technology are difficult to keep pace with.
Also, she said, the informal job sector includes work by women even in the assembling
of electronic parts and computers. Fields such as nursing and paramedical services also
use workers in the informal sector.
Jhabvala answered a question about the exclusion of men from the organization,
explaining that the marginalized women need a forum for empowerment without having men
around.
"Sometimes, being a women's association marginalizes you," she smiled. "But sometimes,
that also gets you more sympathy."
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