How annoyed do you get when you hear about tube strikes? A simple journey to work has to get prolonged, confusing and just simply inconvenient. When it was reported British Airways are going to be striking, the initial reaction was “What about my holiday?”
Have you asked yourself why an entire workforce is going on strike? Could it be that a strike has been organised for a reason other than ‘being awkward’?
Strikes are organised by Trade Unions who unite workforces and bring together a group of people who individually cannot be heard. A strike maybe a nuisance for the general public, and managers who have to deal with the demands of a very powerful workforce. Trade unions give the people a voice and shows the power employees at the end of the spectrum have. This is the only way they can be heard and their needs met.
Could a garment worker in India working 48 hour shifts and measly pay benefit from a Trade Union? Yes they can BUT forming a Trade Union holds more risks in developing countries than it does here in the UK.
In the past workers who involved themselves with trade unions were either fired or beaten severely. In India it is easy to replace an entire workforce due to the large amount of unemployed people looking for work, which means employers are under no obligation to listen to the workers as they are disposable. The workers are treated much like the clothes they make. Replaceable and easy to dispose. Would you join a trade union and risk your family’s welfare?
To get around this, separate protective bodies have been set up. These bodies don’t work within the factories but give support to garment workers outside of their factory environments. If workers want to take part in demonstrations and build their confidence under anonymous aliases they can do so by going to these agencies.
One agency that Naitika is associated with is
Cividep they are a part of a collaborative network of individuals who help workers form associations and trade unions to represent their issues. Cividep are the ones who told us about
Roopa’s murder. They deal with many cases where women have been abused or harassed and need somebody to talk to. It is important they are represented in their fight for justice.
Cividep offers a confidential and secure place for workers to come which is reassuring for the workers as many suffer from loneliness which come from the fact that they cannot confide with and talk to their fellow workers as trust is such an issue. Managers often place moles or spies within the workforce to find out what the workers are thinking and doing. Imagine not even being able to share your problems with anybody and having to hold it all in on top of everything.
Organisations like Cividep are crucial to improving and supporting the working conditions of the workers and their lives. If there was no Cividep where would these people go? Who would listen and care?
Garment workers have a right to be heard and NOT abused for standing up for themselves. What do you now think of trade unions?
