Indian partners advocating together in 2020

During 2020, union protests against the reform of the labour codes continued and took a sharper tone. The partner organizations mobilized their members in collaboration with other recognized trade unions of India. They looked at issues like informal workers’ registration procedures into a database. In September 2020, a nationwide protest held by NDWM, NDWF and CFTUI under the National Platform Domestic Workers demanded National Legislation for Domestic Workers, cash transfers to domestic workers affected by the corona crisis and the implementation of the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. 

Memoranda were submitted to the Members of Parliament, Labour Ministers, Labour Commissioners and District Collectors in different states. The partner organizations jointly mobilized over 30.000 workers and provided training to 700 workers, of which two thirds were women.

With the support from Brussels Region, our partners also jointly conducted a study in different states on how informal workers had access to social security schemes during the COVID pandemic, in collaboration with Working People’s Charter. WSM also supported the self-employed women’s trade union SEWA in Kerala to support intra-state migrant workers in getting access to social security schemes.