18 January, 2010Union leaders shocked by safety standards in Indian steel plant as IMF project to organise 20,000 steel workers in India commences.
INDIA: Union leaders meeting in India as part of a project to organise 20,000 steel workers were shocked by the conditions they saw during a visit to the Bhilai steel plant in the State of Chhattisgarh.
"What I saw in the Bhilai Steel plant is similar to the working conditions in the Swedish steel industry in the 1940's and 50's," said Eric Andersson, a former copper mill worker and member of Swedish trade union IF Metall.
The steel plant, the largest in the country, employs a total of 40,000 workers, 28,000 of which are members of the union affiliated to the Indian National Metalworkers' Federation (INMF). The remaining 12,000 workers are precarious and sub-contracted workers.
"In particular, the working conditions of the precarious workers in the plant are terrible; many of these workers do not have helmets, protective clothing and safety shoes, which are absolutely required in such a dangerous work environment. My wife actually wears better shoes on the beach!" remarked Andersson.
The union leaders gathered on January 15 and 16, 2010 in New Delhi for the first National Project Committee meeting of the IMF India Steel Organizing Project.
The Project, endorsed by the IMF India Committee and supported by SASK and LO-TCO, seeks to respond to the absolute lack of protection of thousands of workers in sponge iron units and huge steel TNCs operating in India, where only a few public sector plants have unions partially representing permanent workers.
The project will support IMF affiliates', INMF and SMEFI, joint efforts to organise 20,000 workers over a three year period. Significantly, in the context of an extremely fragmented and divided trade union movement, the unions have agreed to combine forces, build unity and not compete against each other to organize members in three selected States.
During its meeting, the Committee studied the findings of the 2009 survey of the steel industry conducted in three selected States, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, where the project will be implemented between 2010 and 2012. The complete survey covers three additional states where it is hoped the organising project may be extended at a later stage.
The survey, to be published in 2010, maps out the existing steel plants, sponge iron units and main production sites as well as a breakdown of the total workforce, including precarious workers and non-manual workers. The mapping further confirms the acute lack of unionization in the industry and the urgent need to address severe health and safety problems and workers' rights at the workplace.
The Committee overseeing the project consists of the general secretaries and regional leadership of the two national federations representing the steel and mining sectors in India, INMF and SMEFI, as well as representatives of Metalli and TU (Finland), IF Metall and Unionen (Sweden), the SASK regional coordinator for South Asia, the IMF head office project officer and the IMF director for South Asia region.
At the meeting INMF and SMEFI reinforced their political agreement to cooperate and strengthen the national federations and the IMF looks forward to the contribution and exchange of experiences with the Swedish and Finnish affiliates supporting the project.