The government is speedily implementing the policies of globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation. It is not setting up any new undertakings in the public sector; in stead the existing ones are being rapidly dismantled. Permanent and regular jobs have drastically come down and work is being done by contract workers. Today, in almost all the industries, the number of contract workers has reached almost double that of the regular workers. Many young women and men who have studied up to tenth class, plus two, ITI, diploma courses and graduation etc and had to spend lot of money for their education, are working as contract workers as they could not get better jobs.

The managements are exploiting them by engaging them through contractors who pay paltry wages. Besides, the present recession is also threatening their jobs. The public sector undertaking, Vizag Steel Plant is an example of this situation. Because of these policies, contract workers who neither have the skills nor the experience are made to perform jobs that require high skills like crane operation, pole trucks, electrical maintenance, hydraulic and pneumatic works, mechanical works, high voltage breaker maintenance, and overhead lines etc.

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The management is completely apathetic towards the implementation of statutory provisions like payment of equal wages, payment of DA and regularisation of those working in jobs of permanent nature. In Vizag Steel Plant, a total of 25,000 contract workers – 10,000 in the running plant and 15,000 in construction – are working at present. Out of the 10,000 contract workers in the running plant, 4,000 are working in jobs of permanent nature.Young men aged 20 – 30 from other states are also working in the steel plant for a meagre wage of Rs 100 per day and stay in the poor accommodation provided by the contractors. They do not get any other facilities and face lot of difficulties including diseases due to lack of proper sanitation.

A team of CITU activists, under the leadership of its Visakhapatnam district committee conducted a survey among 300 contract workers in Vizag Steel Plant working in civil works, painting, piece rate loading and unloading. The survey was conducted at their houses located in Appikonda and Sabbavaram areas, to study the changes in their lives due to the government policies and the various problems they face. Special attention was paid to learn about their wages, occupational diseases, economic conditions, and impact of modernisation, problems at their living places and the social problems.

Wages – The loading and unloading and piece rated workers surveyed were earning Rs 1,000 – 4,000 per month. This is less than the minimum wages stipulated by the state government. Their wages depend upon the work they do. They do not get any other allowances or over time etc. There were occasions when they do not get any work. PF and ESI deductions are not made if the number of days of work is less.

Occupational diseases, safety – The workers handling tar, pitch cutting, benzyl, calcium, preparation of bricks, ammonia sulphate, acetylene filling etc, were suffering from various skin and lung diseases, tuberculosis and diseases related to facial muscles. The workers, who work in high temperature ranging from 700 C to 1,000 C, are becoming exhausted and weak and are unable to attend their duties regularly. The hearing ability of those working in high sound in the mills areas is coming down. Besides, many accidents are taking place while working at 60-80 metre heights in the midst of machines without any protection and supervision.

Economic and social conditions – The workers are unable to make ends meet with the meagre income, but are forced to continue as they have no choice. Besides, many workers are becoming victims to several vices like drinking etc on the pretext of having to do hard manual labour. They have to incur huge amounts of loans and women in their families have to work as labourers, domestic workers etc to earn some additional income. They are unable to send their children for good or higher education. Coming from traditional agricultural or artisanal families, their parents and sisters are dependent on these workers. Superstitions, family traditions etc force them to spend lots of money on observance of some family occasions, marriages, festivals, etc by spending huge amounts of money, which make them further indebted. These huge financial burdens often lead to quarrels and unrest within the families. Some families have loans of up to Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakhs.

Government policies and modernisation – The global recession has impacted the steel industry in our country. Orders for steel and pig iron have come down. As a result, 50 workers out of these 300 are not getting work for more than 1-2 months in a year. All of them are educated, having completed ITI, diploma and degree courses. Unable to find any better employment opportunities, they are not ready to leave the only source of income and are forced to manage their lives with the Rs 1,000 – Rs 2,000 they earn in the present job.

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The workers employed in loading and unloading of coal have lost their income due to the opening of the Gangavaram port. Earlier, coking coal used to reach Vizag port by ships from where it reached the steel plant by around 1,160 wagons every month. These workers used to unload the coal whenever it arrived at the plant. With the opening of Gangavaram port, the material reaches the steel plant through conveyor belts. As a result 50 workers have lost their jobs. Most of them used to work as teams along with their wives. Now, they are on the streets.

The introduction of strapping machine resulted in the loss of jobs for another 50 workers who used to do it manually. Another 50 are likely to lose their jobs soon. Most of these are educated and migrant workers. The use of bricks has come down because of the use of better quality bricks which have longer life, in the SMS and blast furnace areas. This led to a huge reduction in the income of the 600 brick unloading workers. At present they are able to earn Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,300 per month, which is around one fourth of what they used to earn earlier. Their conditions are bound to worsen further if unloading would be done through cranes and poll trucks. Conditions at living places – Many of these workers are migrants from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram districts, the rural areas of Visakhapatnam district and from other states. They do not have own houses in the city. They have no ration cards. They are spending around Rs 200 – 300 for the education of their children. Around one third of their wages is spent on house rent and for electricity. In addition to the rising prices they also face other problems related to drinking water, toilets, sanitation, roads etc.

K Srinivas is the general secretary, Steel Plant Contract Labour Union (CITU)