Organising the Contract Workers in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation

The core work of Sanitation, Health, Malaria Eradication of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, in the State of Andhra Pradesh in India, is done through Con-tractors, who employ contract labourers for doing the job. The contract workers are most vulnerable without job and social security. They are paid low wages (less than the prescribed minimum wages), with overloaded work and no safety equipment at the workplace. They are targeted when they want to join a union and are sacked by the con-tractors. AP Municipal Contract Workers Union(APMCWU), affiliated to Indian National Municipal and Local Bodies Workers Federation has been functioning as an umbrella organisation to organize the contract workers and regularize their employment. This union organized 2 days Dharna (Strike) on 27/28 June 2010 and forced the Corporation and Contractors to pay Legal minimum wages. Around 180 crores (1800 million rupees,39,757,040.31 USD) collected from the workers as their contri-bution towards Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance Scheme were not deposited with the concerned departments. The union forced the GHMC management to enroll the contract workers into the social security schemes of the government. APMCWU has now formed zonal & ward level branches and has so far organized 35% of the total con-tract workforce of around 18000. As part of leadership skills development for branch leadership APMCWU held a 2 day Trainers workshop on Workers Rights on the 27th& 28th No-vember 2010 at Hyderabad, India under the PSI/LO TCO Trade Union Rights Project. The trainees identified the rights viola-tions at workplace and identified ways and means to mobilize the contract workers to join the trade union and to fight collec-tively for their rights. For more information please contact Bro. Adil Shariff, General Secretary of APMCWU: adilshar-iff_2003@yahoo.com 

Advice PSI  - AP News December 2010