Skip to main content

Pressure tactics end South Gujarat's 1.5 lakh sugarcane workers' strike for more wages

Sugarcane workers' protest in Bardoli
By Jayesh Gamit, Denis Macwan* 
On the first day of the strike of sugarcane harvesting workers of South Gujarat, February 28, in which tribal migrant workers under the banner of Majur Adhikar Manch (MAM) participated, two teams of the trade union visited labour camps in and around Bardoli to assess the impact. The teams found that around 30 per cent workers went on strike and did not work.
The factory management deployed full strength of its recruitment staff to persuade workers to continue working. Recalcitrant workers were asked to pack up and go home without settlement of their accounts. Supervisors threatened workers, who had stopped work, that they would not be allotted farms for cutting sugarcane.
Nearly one and a half lakh sugarcane workers had agitated for higher wages, improved working and living conditions, and social security for last five years. Hence, on the second day, February 29, a general meeting and rally was proposed in front of the Bardoli Sugar Factory. For this, approval was sought and granted by the office of executive sub-magistrate, Bardoli, on February 27.
It is noteworthy that in spite of the enormity of pressure by the factory management, about 30 per cent of the harvesters had stopped work on the first day of the strike. There was a high possibility that the strike would spread furiously in the area after the general meeting and a rally of the protesting workers to the sub-magistrate’s office in Bardoli.
Fearing this, on the evening of February 28, the block administration cancelled its permission of organizing a public meeting due to the enormous pressure brought on by the sugar factory management and their vast network of political associates.
This became evident through the string of reasons that the administration presented to the members of MAM, Surat, which appeared baseless. The office of the magistrate conveyed that ground approved as the venue for the meeting was the space where the factory vehicles were parked. 
The said space is about 50,000 square feet of vacant space located in front of the factory. Out of this, the union had sought permission for meeting for 200 people only, for which 1000 square feet would be more than enough.
The pertinent question is, if the harvesters working for the factory do not demonstrate in front of the sugar factory for their demands, where else will they go? This step of the administration is a direct violation of the human and labour rights of the workers as per our Constitution. The union appealed against this move to the sub-division magistrate.
There was possibility that the strike would spread furiously in the area after the general meeting and a rally of the protesting workers to the sub-magistrate’s office in Bardoli
This is not the first incident of its kind. Earlier, on February 14, a closed-door meeting organized by MAM with the harvesters in the hall of the Bardoli Medical Association was unceremoniously interrupted by the police and the management of the sugar factory. The management of the Bardoli Medical Association was pressurised to cancel the booking made for the meeting after the attempts by the police to halt the meeting did not work.
It is the constitutional right of the workers to organize and fight for their rights. The factory management and the administration should know that if this right is violated, the anger of the workers will manifest in other ways, as was witnessed in Chalthan Factory in 2016, as per the information received by the union.
The factory management worked day and night to disrupt the strike. Representatives of the factory were using threats such as immediate dismissal and non-payment of wages to deter harvesters from stopping their work. Contractors were also being constantly threatened with non-clearance of accounts and that they would no longer be given work. Furthermore, the management went to the extent of threatening the workers with mechanization which would render the harvesters unemployed.
The extent of pressure being exercised by various powerful stakeholders was experienced by the union team when they were besieged by the sugarcane farm owners in Timbarawa village during the press coverage on February 28 while the strike was going on. The union team was threatened with dire consequences if they did not leave the area.
Given this atmosphere of terror and the excessive pressure by the administration, the union decided to withdraw its call for strike to ensure the safety of the harvesters. It submitted a memorandum on the demands of the workers to the Chief Minister through the province officer.
The struggle for human and labour rights will continue. The union will soon file a suit in the appropriate court against factory management for not following labour laws; while the efforts will continue to organize the harvesters.
---
*Secretaries, Majur Adhikar Manch, Dang and Surat, respectively

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

'Pro-corporate agenda': Odisha crackdown on tribal slum dwellers fighting for land rights

By Our Representative  The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning what it calls “brutal repression” on the Adivasi slum dwellers of Salia Sahi in Bhubaneshwar by the Odisha police, has said that the crackdown was against the tribals struggling for land rights in order to “stop the attempts at land-grab by the government.”

Deplorable, influential sections 'still believe' burning coal is essential indefinitely

By Shankar Sharma*  Some of the recent developments in the power sector, as some  recent news items show, should be of massive relevance/ interest to our policy makers in India. Assuming that our authorities are officially mandated/ committed to maintain a holistic approach to the overall welfare of all sections of our society, including the flora, fauna and general environment, these developments/ experiences from different parts of the globe should be clear pointers to the sustainable energy pathways for our people.

Hazrat Aisha’s age was 16, not 6: 'Weak' Hadith responsible for controversy

Sacred chamber where Prophet and Aisha used to live By Dr Mike Ghouse* Muslims must take the responsibility to end the age-old controversy about Hazrat Aisha’s age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh) – it was 16, not 6 (minimum was 16, Max 23 per different calculations). The Hadiths published were in good faith, but no one ever checked their authenticity, and they kept passing on from scholar to scholar and book to book.  Thanks to 9/11, Muslims have started questioning and correcting the Hadiths, Seerah, and mistranslations of the Quran. Now, the Ulema have to issue an opinion, also known as Fatwa, to end it and remove those Hadith entries. Mustafa Akyol, a scholar of Islam, implores Muslims to stop deifying “the received traditions” and critically study their religious past, shedding rigid legalism and close-mindedness. Someone else used the phrase “copycat Muslims” to identify scholars who copied what was given to them and passed it on without researching or questioni