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Given the characteristics of Indian labour market minimum wage becomes very important. Indian labour market is characterized by huge excess supply of unskilled labour. This puts downward pressure on the market wages. Existence of huge excess army of labour may lead to stiff fall in wages, in certain cases, at an abnormally low level. Such low level of wages does not even ensure minimum sustenance and consequently non-fulfilment and reproduction of labour power.

The present coal crisis, which has pushed the thermal power plants to the verge of closure in many states, is another addition to the list of devastating outcomes of the Modi government’s policies over the last more than seven years. Mid-night demonetisation, GST, sudden and unplanned cruel lockdown, handling of Covid-19, NMP and continuous, daily shocks of hikes in fuel prices, to name a few in the series of Modi’s policy decisions which have plunged the nation and its common people in a crisis and devastated people’s lives and livelihoods for the profits of his crony friends.

Zomato’s recent advertisement took the country by storm. It begins with a Zomato delivery worker in awe of having realized that he was delivering food to the Bollywood star Hritik Roshan, who says “Jadoo (magic), you reach on time no matter the weather, are you anything less than jadoo (magic)?”. The star proceeds to request the worker to wait for a selfie. While waiting, hopeful music engulfs the screen as the worker’s phone rings with his next delivery order. The worker promptly sacrifices the opportunity for a selfie with his hero and walks back into the rain for his next delivery.

(Based on the talk delivered at the webinar hosted by the West Bengal unit of All India Bank Employees’ Association - AIBEA on 15 September 2021)

AICCTU Affiliated Unions Played a Pivotal Role in Several States

Domestic work, the labour that goes into running a house, has been probably the most unrecognised labour all over the world, throughout the history. Undermining the human hour invested in reproducing labour that generates the so called ‘value’ in the economy has been the most important tool of exploitation and bondage of women. Unfortunately, employing workers from outside the household for domestic work has not solved the problem of crass exploitation, rather it has added dimensions of class and caste based oppression to it.

Food Delivery workers for app-based platforms like Swiggy and Zomato have started taking to social media platforms to air their grievances against the company. The allegations point to exactly the opposite of what the gig-economy and its champions claim. Instead of freedom to work anytime and anywhere that is proclaimed by the platform companies, workers are subjected to an algorithmic surveillance regime that scrutinizes their every move. Let us take a look at the concerns raised by the workers themselves.

Work Hours and Zones: