That’s the way CFTUI crumbled the cookie with Indian Foods

One of the achievement of CFTUI in Tamil Nadu in the South of India, took place at a company called INDIANFOOD Private Limited, located 18km from Madhurai (map). It produces food items, one of the main one being biscuits. In this factory, there are 97 regular workers. They were divided into three categories: skilled, semi-skilled and labour. The workers there had not received a wage increase in the last twenty years though this should have happened every three years. They were initially paid as follows (column one):

CATEGORY OF WORKERS	Monthly salary before CFTUI intervention (June 2013)	Demands from CFTUI Trade Union	Agreement after CFTUI intervention (after June 2013)
Machine Operators (skilled)	7.591 INR	25.000 INR	18.566 INR
Helpers (semi-skilled)	6.790 INR	20.000 INR	13.000 INR
Supporting staff, such Khalasis (labour)	5.575 INR	18.000 INR	13.000 INR

The yearly bonus was also increased from Rs 8,000/- to Rs 12,000/- for the regular workers. Besides the 97 regular workers, 150 casual daily workers also work in the same factory for the last years. They were involved in the food processing units like the other 97 workers, but the daily casual workers were never paid their wages as per the minimum wage act of Tamil Nadu state. According to this legislation, they are supposed to get between Rs 142 to Rs 200 per day, but they would receive between Rs 100/- to 150/-.

Unity without uniformity, diversity without fragmentation

This weekend, one day after my return to Asia, I got to witness a meeting with our two partners, the Minister of Labour and Employment and several organisations that support workers. This kind of meeting, which we call a Trade Union Solidarity Support Organisation (TUSSO) meeting is to share regarding the work the trade unions do and which support they are receiving for what.

The title for this post, taken from one of the facilitators, refers to the challenges in many countries, and particularly in South Asia, to have workers movements that are both independent and not fragmented, with hundreds of trade unions. Sometimes, trade unions are founded by political parties, as a wing to attract and represent workers, which often leads to them to have easier political access and an initial membership base, but this however can put into question their independence, especially when that party comes into power. And this also means that political divides and tensions can tamper with workers solidarity, where their interests and defense should prevail.