An All India Workshop of Construction Workers

An All India Workshop of Construction Workers

All India Construction Workers Federation (AICWF), affiliated to AICCTU, held its first ever all India workshop at Ranchi on 9 – 10 Nov. 2022, with emphasis on reorienting its practice among construction workers. In the backdrop of Modi-led BJP government’s offensive on the working class, including the new Labour Codes that are dismantling welfare boards, this workshop was conducted. The workshop took stock of AICWF experience since its inception.

Inaugurating the workshop, Comrade Rajiv Dimri, General Secretary of AICCTU, said that construction workers are numerically high, next only to agriculture workers, in the country. Still, they are the one of the most depoliticised sections of workers today. The fundamental reason for such a depoliticisation is the welfare board-centric practice. With the introduction of new Labour Codes, the task of enrolment in welfare boards is being snatched away from trade unions. The Codes Act, being imposed by the Modi government, will soon replace the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1996. The repealing of this act will lead to closure of BOCW Boards in all the 36 states. In fact, the Code on Social Security is a direct blow to the building workers. He gave a call to the workers to make the construction workers movement a class struggle centric one. He stressed on the need to organise construction workers in large numbers to fight against the Modi government and its anti-worker policies.

 

Around 65 cadres from Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi participated in the workshop.

 

The workshop discussed three major topics - changing composition and challenges of construction workers movement, changing laws and the newer issues, and politicisation of construction labour movement. Com. SK Sharma, General Secretary of the federation, Com. Balasubramanian, President and Com. Shankar, AICCTU President were the resource persons and Com. RN Thakur gave an introduction. Com. Suvendu Sen, General Secretary of AICCTU, Jharkhand, also addressed the workshop.

 

Com. Sharma presented a paper titled Changing Composition of Labour in the Construction Industry. While, in India, the construction workers constitute single largest contingent of workforce, next only to agricultural workers, they are the most neglected lot, without any legal protection. They work without any job security, wage security and social security. Longer working hours without any overtime payment, casual nature of employment, etc., affect them very badly. They often fall prey to occupational diseases. In the absence of any safety measures, the number of workers who lost their lives while on service is countless. In such cases, neither the building owner, nor the builder – contractors are made responsible for their lives. Workers are forced to fend for themselves.

The Composition of Construction Workforce

There are endless categories of construction workers in terms of their trade or profession. They are generally organized based on labour districts or localities. We have to try to categorise them based on their employment and workplace to understand the composition of workforce and to formulate strategy to organize them. Six major sections of workers were identified as part of the composition of workforce - workers employed in government-owned infrastructure projects such as construction of dams, roads, etc., workers engaged in private-owned large projects, workers engaged in quarries and brick kilns, workers engaged in emerging industries like readymix concrete manufacturing, migrant workers, workers employed in small-scale construction activities, and wage earners like electricians, plumbers, etc. There are several other categories of construction workers as well. Still, the above are the broad categories that comprise majority of construction and building workers in the country. We must take a relook at our practice and keep moving towards organizing workers of the first five categories. Such altered priorities and thrust on organizing above sections of workers can be the basis of reorientation of our work and can also be a big step towards politicization of the construction workers movement.

 

Major Changes in Laws

The paper on existing laws, codes and implications for construction workers was presented by Com. Balasubramanian. The Code on Social Security contemplates formation of a single welfare board at state level for all categories of unorganised workers by dismantling several boards that exist now. It’s welfare functions are being restricted and reduced to the lowest. The provision of providing basic amenities and rest rooms that was mandatory has been completely relaxed and is almost left to the whims and fancies of the employers.

 

Earlier, a construction worker was basically defined by the nature of employment. Now, the construction activities for less than 50 lakh rupees is exempted from the definition of building and construction work and thus, workers employed in such projects are out of the purview of the laws. In addition, a threshold of number of workers are introduced for application of the labour laws. For example, workers are entitled to ESI benefit only if more than 10 workers are employed and entitled to PF only if more than 20 workers are employed. With these changed definitions, a vast majority of construction workers are rendered outside the purview of labour laws. , according to the Labour Codes. According to the Labour Codes, only a worker engaged in a project that employed more than 10 workers in the previous 12 months will be considered as a construction worker This change in definition is a major blow to workers.

Group Discussion

The participants were divided into six groups led by Comrades Mukesh Mukt, PP Apanna, RN Thakur, Saurabh Naruka, Mahendra Parida and VKS Gautam to brainstorm on four important aspects - introspection of existing work in each state, practical implications of Codes on construction workers, suggestions for possible reorientation of work in the newer situation and on politicization of construction workers movement. After the discussion, the leaders from each group presented the summary. Com. Manjulata from Rajasthan and Com.Ram Singh presented their opinions in addition to group leaders. The group discussion was very lively, encouraging and inspiring and helped the cadres to develop more insights and understanding of their own work as well as on the topics of the workshop.

In the concluding speech, AICCTU President Com. V Shankar said that we are confronting a situation where all the rights are being snatched away and all welfare benefits are being robbed away. The Modi-led BJP government and also the governments at the states are geared up towards facilitating the bourgeoisie by providing the 'ease of doing business' while the workers lives are turned much more difficult. Profits are multiplied by depressing wages and deceiving workers. In such a context, we are bestowed with the task of making construction workers movement a political movement that can challenge the powers that be and that can secure welfare as a benefit provided by the government and the employers. He called upon construction workers to turn the movement into a movement for social change and for a better society.

In the construction workers movement, we have also witnessed several positive experiences of politicization. In some places, the workers enrolled in the union in some workers districts have become leaders of the people of the localities. In the process, workers confronted saffron forces coming in the way of organizing the people. They were advised only to organize unions and not to organize the people for a progressive and revolutionary politics and movements but the construction workers defied the diktats of the fascist forces and the masses were mobilized against them.

We have seen construction workers offices serving as centres of revolutionary politics. The construction workers unions have also maintained whole time political and trade union activists by providing allowances. We have witnessed spontaneous struggles against big builders by the workers who lived in subhuman, unhygienic sheds. Construction workers have joined en masse in the struggles against the saffron fascist forces. Such positive experiences are countless.

 

AICWF decided to hold similar workshops at district and state levels. It also decided to hold its fourth All India Conference at Bhubaneswar in May 2023 with a membership target of two lakhs. The workshop was a grand success generating a lot of enthusiasm to transform the construction workers movement.

 

AICWF formulated the following as central slogans for the campaign towards the conference :

• Fight for Higher Wages, Housing, Better Living Standards, Social Security, Safety and Dignity of Construction Workers!

• Stop Dismantling of Welfare Boards!

• Turn Construction Workers Movement into an Independent Political Force and Vanguard of the People!

• Scrap the Anti-Worker Codes, including the Social Security Code against Construction Workers!

• Defeat Anti-worker, Anti-people Modi-led BJP!
 

On the Politicization and Reorientation of the

Construction Workers’ Movement

 

PART 1

[This is a paper presented by Comrade Shankar V, the President of AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) in an all-India workshop of construction workers held at Ranchi, Jharkhand on 9 – 10 Nov. 2022. This paper shall be read with the Bhubaneshwar paper on “Pollicization of the Working Class”]

Dear Comrades,

We are confronting a situation where all our rights are being snatched away. All welfare benefits are being robbed away. The Modi led BJP government and the governments at the state are more geared up towards facilitating the bourgeoisie by providing the ‘ease of doing business’ while the workers’ lives are being made much more difficult. Profits are being increased by depressing wages and by deceiving the workers. In such a situation, we are bestowed with the task of making construction workers’ movement a political movement that can challenge the powers that be and that can secure welfare as a benefit provided by the government and the employers. The need of the hour is to develop construction workers as an independent political force, as an independent political movement.

In the construction workers’ movement, we also have witnessed several positive experiences of politicization. In some places, the workers enrolled in the union at some workers’ corners have become leaders of the people of the localities. In the process, workers confronted saffron forces coming in the way of organizing the people. We are advised only to organize unions and not to organize the people for a progressive and revolutionary politics and movements. The construction workers defied the dictates of the fascist forces, and the masses are mobilized against them.

We have seen construction workers’ offices serving as centers of revolutionary politics. The construction workers’ unions have also maintained full time political and trade union activists by providing allowances.

We have witnessed spontaneous struggles against big builders by the workers' who lived in their inhuman, unhealthy sheds.

Construction workers have also joined en masse in the struggles against the saffron fascist forces.

Such positive experiences are countless.

This paper presents an assessment of the current situation of construction workers and discusses the way forward towards building a construction workers’ movement.

 

Issues of Politicization

The issues of politicization of construction and building workers’ movement, in general, has emerged as a major challenge. Construction workers are numerically huge, next only to agricultural workers in the country. Still, they are one of the most de-politicized sections of workers today. There are various factors for such a situation. Construction workers are mostly self-employed or employed as a part of small groups. They are a highly unorganized section of the working class. The employer – employee relationship is too blurred. Being seasonal, unorganized and uncertainty of continuity in the job, they are a most difficult section to be organized. Still, compared to other sections, they are comparatively easier to be identified with the welfare board membership and it becomes the axis for organizing them as well. Unlike other workers, they are contacted and organized at the level of labour chowk (labour corners) or localities and are, generally, not being organized based on the location of their employment. The fundamental reason for depoliticization is the welfare board centric work on the one hand and lack of participation in trade union activities on the other.

 

Vanishing Role of Unions

The job of enrolment in welfare boards is being snatched away from the trade unions. In many cases, the rule to certify workers by the unions are changed. As enrolment is also becoming increasingly online, workers’ unions are at disarray, or they also tend to perform the role of internet cafes where the registration in welfare board is done for a price. Workers are also comfortable in employing some of the activists as facilitators for their registration in welfare boards. Now, the same role is being replaced by the internet centers.

 

Middlemen Vs Trade Union Activists

In the absence of any real class struggle, workers too are happy with paying some money to middlemen to get them enrolled instead of losing a day’s wages for doing the same work. Against such a backdrop, the relationship between the middlemen and workers turns into that of between a master and a servant and it ends when the money is paid for the work and when the job is done. The relationship in most cases does not extend to organizing struggles against the forces of domination in the building and construction industry. This is the irony of the situation.

 

Welfare Board Members Vs Union Members

In some cases, not all, we also notice that most of the welfare board members recruited are not members of the union. Rather, only a small percentage is recruited to the union while the percentage enrolled in welfare board remain very large. There is a need to reverse this situation as well.

 

The Class Struggle Centric Union – First Step Towards Politicization

As most of the union work is concentrated in rural or semi-urban areas and where most of the construction workers are engaged in smaller size constructions and engaged by some small players like maistrys, the scope for any class struggle in true sense, becomes much more limited. In such a backdrop, striving to make the construction workers movement a class struggle centric one, assumes great significance. Making our union a class struggle centric organization is the first step towards politicization of the movement.

 

Dismantling of Welfare Boards

The new portal ‘e-shram’, with much limited scope and no benefits, is replacing welfare boards meant for various categories of unorganized workers. The government is planning to make ‘e-shram’ as the only nodal agency to distribute welfare benefits. Several welfare boards operational under various acts, including Beedi and construction, are being systematically dismantled. The Code on Social Security has made welfare akin to purchasing some insurance policy. The more you pay, the more the benefits. Neither the government nor the employer is responsible for the welfare and social security of workers. Hence, it is the responsibility of the workers to challenge and stall this Code. In fact, the Code on Social Security is a direct blow on the building workers.

 

The workers’ welfare and social security should be the responsibility of the government and should not be made the burden of workers. Such an attempt by the Modi government should be stalled at any cost.

 

Welfare Board Funds Only for the Welfare of Construction Workers

Welfare boards have thousands of crores lying with them. Already, the central and state governments have started using them for purposes other than the welfare of construction workers. It is the need of the hour to intensify struggles against the governments to stop it.

 

Fund Managers Swallowing Welfare Funds

Another major issue is the fate of huge reserve fund lying with the welfare board. The government has not yet spelt out its stand on this. There are apprehensions that the entire welfare fund may be handed over to some private fund management companies in the name of preserving them. The fund managers are allowed to have a free run to invest the funds in the market. The market driven fund management can very well be swallowed by the private companies very soon and the construction workers are bound to be cheated in this process.

 

Increase the Cess and the Collection

The rate of cess fund collection has been kept at the most minimum while trade unions are demanding collection of 3 percent and to increase it. Buildings below 50 lakhs are spared from paying any cess and the government has reserved its right to further decrease even the meagre 1 percent cess being collected whenever it deems fit. Thus, the system of collection of cess is almost in the process of being abandoned.

 

PART 2

 

The Composition of Construction Workforce

There are endless categories of construction workers in terms of their trade or profession. They are generally organized based on labour corners or localities. We may now try to categorize them based on their employment and workplace to understand the composition of workforce and to formulate the strategy to organize them.

 

  • A sizeable section of workers is working in big infrastructural projects like constructing roads, dams, bridges, airports, etc. Such works are basically government owned and are assigned to the builders or contractors for its execution. Here, the respective governments shall be treated as principal employers and shall be held responsible and accountable for all problems of workers, including regularization, wages, working conditions, social security, etc. Such workers may be organized based on their employer or worksites and against the governments.
  • Another large section of workers is employed by builders of large projects in cities and towns through contractors and other categories of middlemen. These workers are also entitled to all legal benefits including job, wage, and social security. They may be organized based on their employer or worksites. The said builder shall be treated as principal employer and be made responsible for all their issues as mentioned above.
  • A section of workers is engaged in formal sectors such as quarries, brick-kilns, etc., that require mandatory registration or license, but they remain the most unorganized section of workers. Such workers are found mostly in semi-urban, semi-rural areas. Here, employed by whichever contractor, the owners of the kiln or quarry shall be treated as principal employers or employers. Such workers too are entitled to all above said rights and benefits. As the workers are completely denied such rights and benefits as a rule, we also witness spontaneous outbursts on several occasions across the country.
  • There is also an emerging section of most advanced of construction workers engaged in ready mix concrete industry. They are manufacturing concrete in a company plant, transport to construction sites in trans-mixers and pump the concrete on the sites. This an emerging section as the share of ready-mix concrete penetration in the total concrete manufacturing is only 15 percent as on date. This section of workers is entitled to all legal benefits but are denied those benefits as they are mostly unorganized.
  • There is a large section of migrants in the above categories of workers. There are several issues specific to migrants which needs to be given a greater attention. We should make use of all available benefits for migrants under the law right from their registration as migrants to securing migrant benefits for them.
  • A vast majority of workers are employed in small constructions, petty repairs and renovation works. The employer is not identifiable and mostly like a self-employed. Their demands can be achieved only by mobilizing them against the government. We should keep demanding expansion of horizons of welfare benefits to them. The primary unit for organizing them is their localities or labour corners.
  • There is also another vast section of building workers engaged in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, steel, and iron work, etc., in rural, semi-rural and semi-urban areas alongside other construction workers. They may also be organized based on their trade or profession. Their demands too are mostly against the governments.

 

There are several other categories of construction workers as well. Still, above are the broad categories that comprise majority of construction and building workers in the country. We must take a re-look at our practice and keep moving towards organizing workers of the first five categories. Such modified priorities and thrust of organizing above sections of workers can be the basis of reorientation of union work in construction sector and can also be a big step towards politicization of the construction workers’ movement.

 

Politicization of Construction Workers’ Movement

 

Politicization essentially means, in short, imbibing the class consciousness to overthrow the regime of the bourgeoisie and the capture of political power by the working class. i.e., to establish a government of the working class. Establishing a state (government) of the working class can only pave the way for the emancipation of the working class. The process of politicization becomes complete if workers can attain such a consciousness of the capture of political power.

 

Following are some points of reorientation on which the construction and building workers’ movement shall focus on:

 

At the level of construction workers’ union activities…

  • The construction workers’ unions shall recruit workers to the union first and involve them in trade union activities.
  • Assisting workers to get them enrolled in welfare board, as they are members of the union, may be made as a secondary activity. The welfare board enrolment activities may also be assigned, generally, to some non-exploitative internet cafes and labour officers so that workers can approach them directly under the guidance of trade union leaders.
  • In case of any corruption, misappropriation, diversion of funds, refusal to disburse benefits by authorities or others, the union should organize mass of construction workers to fight against it, instead of relying mainly on petitioning through individual workers to get the benefits. In fact, this struggle should be made the primary aspect of functioning at trade union level.
  • If we expand our work to organizing workers under builders, construction companies, brick kilns and other formal sectors, then we have a greater scope of raising various issues including wage rise, ESI, PF, pension, and other issues related to social security. Trade unions should gradually move towards organizing such sections.
  • Make it compulsory to open bank accounts in the name of the union, deposit all the money in the account and spend only through withdrawals from bank, submit accounts every six months to the respective committees.
  • Form teams for auditing – right from the center and up to district level – to audit accounts of the union and submit report to the central headquarters of the union.
  • Introduce the system of allowance to construction union leaders. All money collected from workers, as per decision of the committee, shall be deposited to the committee (bank) and the committee shall take care of the welfare of its cadres. 

 

Aspects of Class Struggle

  • Struggles against the state for the expansion of welfare benefits and for strict collection of 3 percent of construction expenses as cess.
  • Struggles against the nexus of real estate mafia, bureaucrats, builders, and contractors.
  • Struggles to hold the owners of the construction, builders, and contractors responsible for any death or disablement while on duty and for the welfare. The owners of the construction and builders shall be held responsible as principal employers.
  • Organize struggles of construction workers for decent wages, improvement in living standards, better working conditions, proper housing and for the dignity of labour.

 

The struggles against the government (anti – state struggles) can be organized at all levels, both in rural and urban areas.

 

For the struggles against the nexus mentioned above, the union work maybe focused on some cities and towns and against some building owners and builders who violate applicable laws. Each state should make an investigation and choose the cities and towns and builders for organizing workers and to organize struggles under the banner of the union.

 

Various Aspects of Politicization

  • Organizing the construction workers in the union, forming branches in worksites, labour corners and localities and activate them to address the problems of the local people in coordination with progressive and Left parties at respective levels. Construction workers should lead the struggles of the people.
  • Organize workers against the policies of the central and state governments that affect them. Launch struggles to withdraw the Social Security Code and to withdraw its negative provisions, to make the state responsible for the welfare and security of the construction works. Organize struggles of migrant workers and others against the anti-labour provisions of the Codes that affect migrant workers.
  • Make the construction workers join hands and extend solidarity to struggles of all workers. Integrate construction workers’ movement with the struggles of all workers in urban areas.
  • Integrate the construction workers’ movement with the movement of agricultural labourers and rural workers in rural areas.
  • Exposure Campaign against saffron fascism and against the Modi led RSS – BJP government that is snatching away all rights of construction workers.
  • Organize Mass Pledge Taking programmes to defeat the Modi led BJP in 2024 General Elections.
  • Form an intermediate forum of construction workers that may undertake activities as mentioned below:
    • Organize classes for workers about social change, role of working class in the capture of political power, etc.
    • Organize discussions, public meetings, and seminars on workers issues regularly
    • Bring out folders regularly on workers issues and explaining the stand of the union
    • Organize shows of progressive films depicting workers’ struggles and workers’ sacrifices and organize discussions.
    • Organize workers’ cultural troupes for propaganda in workers’ corners, localities, big constructions, etc.
  • Make a definite distinction between a welfare board enrolment agent and a trade union leader, an internet business center vis-à-vis a trade union organization.
  • Make a clearcut distinction between an organization offering welfare service and a union leading class struggles of workers.

 

We are for making construction workers as vanguards of the society. We are for turning construction workers’ movement into a movement for social change and for a better society.