INDIA LABOURLINE

An NGO Comes Up With “India Labourline”

To Offer Legal & Mediation Aid To Migrant Workers Across States.

image courtesy : telengana today.

The Working Peoples Charter (WPC), an umbrella organization of groups working on issues related to labourers, has come up with a helpline to provide legal and mediation help to all workers who face problems at worksites.  

Named as “India Labourline”, the helpline 1800-833-9020 aims to support migrant workers and all those working in the informal sector. India Labourline is headquartered in Mumbai. It will be officially launched on Saturday in the presence of Ajit Prakash Shah, Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court (online), Indira Jaising, former Addl. Solicitor General of India and others. 

The tele-counsellors are trained to provide the first level of counselling over the phone to workers before handing it over to the concerned State Facilitation Centres for undertaking field-level interventions in legal disputes. 

State centres are functional in the following states at present: Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana.

The helpline also helps workers by connecting them to appropriate stakeholders, such as police, labour departments etc. In cases where all mediation or referral have failed, the workers are given help to approach the courts.

“The pandemic emphasized the need for strengthening and reforming the Labour Department that is plagued by inefficient governance and administration and lack of human and financial resources. The lockdown affected the migrants and unorganised workers most, because of the lack of alternatives to fend for themselves, and no means for accessing information regarding schemes or entitlements as required. India Labourline is a direct response to the need for support for migrant workers and all those working in the informal sector in India,” says the WPC in a press statement. 

Informal work means precarious work, involving irregular and insecure work in unsafe workplaces, for long hours, low wages and no security. In addition to the high prevalence of work-related frauds such as wage theft, bondage, physical and verbal abuse, and non-payment of compensation following accidents in hazardous workplaces, the NGO states. 

It adds, "There are deep-rooted vulnerabilities in terms of access to basic necessities in times of crisis as was seen during the pandemic and the lockdowns. The helpline, which started operation on July 16th, tries to address these and other issues by providing information, advice, mediation, and legal aid as needed." 

Welcoming the move, Raghunath Kuchik, the deputy leader of Shivsena and the chairperson of the State’s Minimum Wages Advisory Committee, said, “There is no such platform for the migrant workers in India so far. I am glad that WPC has taken this initiative.”

“The labour department has a total disconnect from reality. The officials are least bothered about labourers. The department itself is sidelined and suffers from 50% staff vacancy. The workers’ complaints of illegal lay off and non-release of salary are not heard for six months. By that time, the distressed workers already leave for their hometown for survival,” he said.  Mr Kuchik said that due to the department’s apathy, several industries including Bharat Forge and TCS in Pune have laid off their staff or shut their units recently exploiting the lockdown opportunity.