Fish processing units: A woman worker asserts her rights

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 9. It is called the ``story of Suja Abraham''. A faceless worker in a fish-processing unit whose struggle and courage to complain and fight has become emblematic for the contemporary world of unorganised workers. She has - with support from trade unions and other labour rights organisations - shown that there is a way out even from sheer hell.

Suja's tragic story underlines the shocking violation of human rights and labour rights of women workers in the fish processing industry. Born in a poor family in 1974 in Kerala, Suja, despite having three years of experience as a nurse, was forced to take up a job in a fish-processing unit in Mumbai, after her husband deserted her in 1995.

She left her one-year-old daughter with her old and ailing mother on the promise of a salary of Rs. 1,400 with free accommodation and food. She worked for 13 to 15 hours at a stretch, beginning the day at 3 a.m. and at the end of the month got only half of the promised salary.

Hazardous working conditions, inhuman living conditions, lack of adequate sanitation, fatigue, malnutrition, stress of separation from families, forceful confinement and loneliness, threat of abuse and physical torture from managers and supervisors of the units took a toll on Suja's physical and mental health.

Hers was not an isolated case. There were many more who suffered in silence for the fear of losing their job. But Suja chose to escape. However, she was soon traced and brought back under threat to her life with more torture. She was forced to sleep outside in the verandah and made to starve.

A few days later, she ``fell'' from the third floor of the building and was incapacitated forever in November 1996. As the issue of compensation came up, it marked the turning point in Suja's struggle. With the management initially intimidating Suja and later denying the incident inside their premises by disowning her as their employee, trade unions and women's rights groups waged a crusade to seek justice for her.

Judicial intervention was sought and the Bombay High Court ruled that Suja was a bonded labourer and directed the management to pay her a compensation of Rs. 2,500 per month for the rest of her life.

Today, Suja has become the rallying point for young women migrant labourers, particularly those working in fish and sea food- processing units, to expose the ``super-exploitative industry. Her poignant story was narrated here to an audience comprising the Union Labour Minister, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatia, the Secretary (Labour), Dr. L. Misra, the International Labour Organisation Director (India & Bhutan), Ms. Mary Robinson, the chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Ms. Vibha Parthasarathy, Labour Commissioners from coastal States which engage about 100,000 women workers in their fish-processing units and representatives of the Seafood Exporters Association of India.

It was the idea of the National Campaign on Labour Rights (NCLR) - a platform of various trade unions and labour support organisation - not only to move the hearts, but also to launch a nationwide campaign on labour rights of women workers and forge a successful partnership between law enforcement agencies, workers organisations and civil society organisations.

A charter of minimum labour standards, to be ``conscientiously and voluntarily adopted'' by the fish- processing industry, was released on the occasion calling upon all employers' association to self-adhere to a set of minimum labour standards with regard to wages, working hours, living and working conditions without any prejudice to the instrument of collective bargaining and unionisation.

The industry, which accounts for four per cent of the country's total export earnings, now faces a demand from the NCLR to strictly implement the provisions of the inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, the enforce the Contract Labour Act, implement the Minimum Wages Act, monitor workers' health, create a welfare board for workers, bring workers under the ESI Act and respect their right to information.

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Section  : National
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