Dispatch | GANA SANHATI SANGHA

Last Tuesday we helped the youth of Ghritokham village organise mutual aid in their community for distressed farmers and daily labourers.

With the unfaltering support and solidarity of new and old friends, we have now reached out to over 500 families in 6 different villages in the Garh Shalboni region in Jhargram District, West Bengal.

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The Lockdown Crisis in Jhargram

Jhargram has remained a green zone so far with only one reported death. However, the lockdown has affected the economies of the villages here immensely.

Since the restrictions began, shops and small businesses have suffered huge losses, labourers have had no income, farmers found themselves unable to sell and transport their produce. In response to the looming uncertainty, they scaled down operations, rendering many farm labourers jobless.

The relief that is supposed to be distributed through ration shops are often in short supply. At the time of writing this post, there have been no supplies at some of the local ration shops for over two weeks. Even when there are provisions, a pecking order based on local politics and caste is followed for the distribution.

This means that the poorest people in Jhargram have no work, no access to aid from the government, and many have already cut down to one meal a day.

The youth of Jhargram have not given up. Each village we go to we find bright young minds taking initiative to take care of their fellow human beings. They understand that the struggle for the future survival of their communities will be a long one.

Three weeks back we put out an appeal and solidarity poured in from across the country and the world. With that support we were able to distribute food and provisions to over a 100 families each in the six villages of Koima, Shalboni, Jitushol, Ghritokham, Bagmudi and Painabhanga.

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We have reached out to a 100 families each in six villages so far, yet there are many others that need relief. We can only keep doing the good work as long as you keep supporting us, so consider making a contribution. At a time like this no amount is too little or too much.

Feel free to message anytime for any questions or suggestions you might have.

Send your contributions to:

Gpay:
abhijay.gpt@okaxis

You can also transfer the amount to:

Account Name: Abhijay Gupta
Account No.: 20670110065914
Bank & Branch: UCO BANK – JHARGRAM
IFSC Code: UCBA0002067

For international contributions:
TransferWise definitely works!
https://transferwise.com/

Solidarity, not charity!

#mutualaid #globalmayday2020 #1world1struggle

(This was first published on Mayday)

India

Migrant workers across Indian cities have been left stranded and without cash following the government’s sudden imposition of lockdown nationally. The world over, India’s lockdown has been recognized as the most stringent, with public transport and almost all workplaces not dealing with food or health being shut. [1] The plan for lockdown did not include any logistical or economic preparation for assisting the huge mass of migrant and daily wage workers. The Finance Ministry rolled out an economic relief package after 2 days of lockdown, which amounted to near 1% of the GDP. [2]

In the weeks that followed, its implementation has been lackluster. The cash and ration “handouts” allocated on paper were partly to begin with, but various surveys have since reported that even that is not reaching a large majority of those in severe need. [3]

A PIL registered in Supreme Court asked the court to direct the Central government to pay minimum wages to all migrant and daily wage workers, since few people were receiving rations in aid from the central government. On April 21, the court dismissed the petition stating that they cannot interfere with the budgetary role of the central government. [4][5]

Agitation by migrant workers popped up in various cities, comprising hundreds to thousands. Over the last month and a half, 3 protests have occurred in Surat, 1 Hyderabad, 1 in Mumbai, 1 in Kerala and possibly smaller protests elsewhere that weren’t picked up by the media. [6][7][8]

Demands of workers spanned a common theme: funds so they can access food and the few essential items they make do with day to day, payment of their back wages which have been left in the lurch as their workplaces suddenly shuttered and their employers cut themselves off from communicating with them and being allowed to return back home.

Meanwhile, the nation has something else in store for its workers bereft of food, home and protection from the viral storm. In early April, an MHA notification sought to institute a 12 Hour work day, 6 days a week for factories. Even as the Centre faces opposition from trade unions for this planned violation of bare minimum International standards of working conditions, four states have gone ahead and made the 72 Hour work week legal. These states are Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.[9] As the economy reopens, would the bulk of India’s industrial workers have to face the double burden of making up for the profits their bosses lost during lockdown and the danger of contagion?

International

Strike actions are popping up all over USA amidst skyrocketing unemployment and negligence of worker safety. On March 30th, over 100 Amazon employees walked out of a New York City warehouse after the company refused to sanitise the building following news of several employees testing positive for COVID19.[10] Since then strikes have occurred in many workplaces running essential services, notably on April 27 at another Amazon warehouse in Minnesota, more than 50 employees walked out after an employee was fired for taking leave following the news of two other employees at the warehouse having tested positive. The fired employee was reinstated following the walk out. [11]

These actions are set to culminate on May 1st in a strike planned across multiple companies such as Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart and Shipt, among others.[12] Frontline workers are demanding safety precautions against the virus be enforced at their workplaces, hazard pay, health insurance and paid sick leave as they risk their lives and their employers make record profits amidst the pandemic. Over 150 workplaces will participate in. [13]

In France, over 10000 workers in 200 Amazon warehouses notified their intent to not come into work on March 17, the day the nation went into lockdown, citing lack of measures at warehouses to ensure worker safety. [14] Even as Amazon carried out a media blitz to malign striking workers, the latter continued their stand and in a little over a week the company entered negotiations with the workers about implementing safety measures and expanding paid sick leave.

[1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-implements-strictest-lockdown-in-the-world-lags-in-testing-expert-1665604-2020-04-10

[2] https://www.livemint.com/news/india/covid-19-centre-announces-rs-1-7-trillion-package-for-migrant-workers-poor-11585207289279.html

[3] https://www.thehindu.com/data/data-96-migrant-workers-did-not-get-rations-from-the-government-90-did-not-receive-wages-during-lockdown-survey/article31384413.ece

[4] https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/payment-of-wages-to-migrant-workers-supreme-court-issues-notice-to-centre-in-pil-by-harsh-mander-and-anjali-bhardwaj

[5] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/payment-of-minimum-wages-to-migrant-workers-sc-leaves-decision-to-centre/articleshow/75274875.cms

[6] https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/hundreds-of-migrant-workers-protest-in-surat-for-third-time-in-less-than-a-month/article31453039.ece

[7] https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/lockdown-extension-migrant-labourers-protest-in-mumbai-1667038-2020-04-15

[8] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/hyderabad/hundreds-of-migrant-workers-stage-protest-on-road-in-hyderabad/videoshow/75449414.cms

[9] https://thewire.in/labour/factory-workers-12-hour-shifts

[10] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52096273

[11] https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-amazon-reinstates-warehouse-employee-after-strike-amid-coronavirus-20200427-gjzsbzbk6bdqpl7zq3cjwt5tkq-story.html

[12] https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7j8zw/amazon-whole-foods-instacart-workers-organize-a-historic-mass-strike