22 November, 2013The five recognized Indian trade union centers operating in the coal industry have reached an agreement on the wage of contract workers engaged in mining activities in the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries on 18 February of this year. Campaigns are taking place to ensure that this agreement is implemented and respected.
In the last five years, IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in India have prioritized organizing contract workers. This agreement is a result of the collective efforts of our affiliates, the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation and the Hind Khadan Mazdoor federation (HKM).
As the INMF General Secretary S.Q. Zama said:
This is very urgent. If we, the permanent workers don’t act, our existence and power will be at sake.
The INMF strategy has been to campaign for contract workers to be part of the existing unions instead of creating separate structures and consequently to unify the workers instead of dividing them. This is a clear example of the application of the IndustriALL’s golden rules for organizing which promote the non-competition and building cooperation and unity among workers.
The issue of precarious workers has not only been taken up at the political level through the Joint Bipartite Coal Committee of India (JBCCI) but also on the ground, individually at the enterprise level, and were instrumental in influencing the CIL management to frame policies and release the agreement dated 18 February 2013.
The wage of contract workers now also includes medical, social security, allowances, bonus and other statutory benefits. The minimum basic daily wage for contract workers is now 464.00 Indian Rupees (US$7.30).
| Categories of employee | Basic rate (Per Day) |
| Unskilled | Rs. 464.00 |
| Semi skilled/unskilled supervisory | Rs. 494.00 |
| Skilled | Rs. 524.00 |
| Highly skilled | Rs. 554.00 |
THE REALITY ON THE GROUND
The notification of the implementation is always a big challenge. These miners are not conversant with their labour rights and workplace entitlements.
Although this agreement backdated and effective from 1 January, 2013, is a big step forward in the fight against precarious work CIL has been reluctant to implement it. The proof of this has been the circular in Western Coalfield Ltd. (WCL) a CIL subsidiary, obtained fortunately by INMF. The internal company circular stipulates that the “escalation on mining wage is now under reconsideration for payment or otherwise for ongoing contracts”.
As a response to that, the unions submitted a list of demands for strict implementation across the board for all the contract workers in all subsidiaries of CIL.
Therefore, the INMF affiliated unions are now strongly campaigning and negotiating the implementation of this agreement directly with CIL and avoid negotiating with contract agencies for the implementation of the agreement. Indian labour law stipulates that industrial relations must be conducted between the workers’ representatives and the “principal employer”, in this case CIL and not the third-party contract agency companies.
As a result of these campaign activities Coal India management is now amending all their existing contracts and the new rates shall also be implemented in the new contract as well.
India, which has already been designated as one priority country under IndustriALL’s Global Precarious Work project will now be the beneficiary of a special project in South Asia that will concentrate its effort in three target Countries. The main objectives are related to changes at the political and legal level and to the fight to organize and represent precarious workers. This achievement shows us that through these strategies the rights of precarious workers are respected.