August 12th, 2023 marked a historic victory for striking ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) in Bihar with the state government agreeing to increase the monthly payment by Rs. 1,500 per month and providing the payment as ‘honorarium’, instead of ‘reward’ (paritoshik).
- by Shashi Yadav, Saroj Chaubey, Atul Dighe, Geeta Mandal, Vijay Vidrohi and Mahendra Parida
“Our Unity And Struggle Gives us the Dignity as Workers!”
West Bengal
Tea Workers Convention Demands Minimum Wages and Land Rights
Abhijit Mazumdar
A mammoth assembly of tea workers, hailing from most of the tea gardens of Terai, Dooars and Darjeeling Hills met at Bhanu Bhawan (Gorkha Rangmanch), Darjeeling town, in a spectacular convention on 11 September 2021. The convention was the culmination of a decision taken at a meeting of the leaders of all tea unions in Siliguri, owing allegiance to the “Joint Forum” of 37 trade unions operating in the tea sector of North Bengal.
Compensation to Families of Dalit Workers Who Were Forced to do Manual Scavenging
AICCTU Affiliated Unions Played a Pivotal Role in Several States
Protest Demanding Pending Wages at RIMS, Srikakulam
Almost one crore scheme workers all over the country shoulder the burden of implementing several important public schemes of the central government on health and education. They include ASHA workers (working under National Rural Health Mission program), Anganvadi workers (working under ICDS program) and MDM workers (working under Mid Day Meal scheme for school children). Almost 95% of the scheme workers in the country are women. These scheme workers are the backbone in ensuring basic health and nutrition to vast majority of the country’s population.
While everyone is speaking about the doctors and nurses, who are most definitely working on the frontlines and whose services are, of course, laudable during this pandemic, it is necessary for us to remember the frontline workers who are often neglected – the Safai Karamcharis / Sanitation Workers, the D-Group workers in hospitals, ASHA Workers and Crematorium workers.
ऐक्टू से संबद्ध ‘पश्चिमबंगा संग्रामी रंधन कर्मी यूनियन’ के नेतृत्व में राज्य में 13 अक्टूबर को मिड-डे मील कर्मियों के राज्यव्यापी प्रदर्शन आयोजित हुए जिनमें मजदूरी में बढ़ोतरी और त्योहार भत्ते की मांग उठाई गई. पिछले आंदोलन के दौरान मुख्यमंत्री ममता बनर्जी ने मिड-डे मील सेवा को मनरेगा के साथ जोड़ते हुए मजदूरी में बढ़ोतरी का आश्वासन दिया था, लेकिन यह अभी तक पूरा नहीं हुआ है.