More join as brick kiln workers strike enters 7th day

As the strike called by the workers of the brick kilns situated around Sanand entered the seventh day on Friday after they decided to continue it at a meeting held on January 15,workers of around 100 kilns in Adalaj have also decided to join them.

As the strike called by the workers of the brick kilns situated around Sanand entered the seventh day on Friday after they decided to continue it at a meeting held on January 15,workers of around 100 kilns in Adalaj have also decided to join them.

The protesting workers will present the charter of their demands to brick kiln owners in and around Adalaj and will await for their response for three days before going on a mass strike.

Workers of over 20 brick kilns from Sanand have been on a strike over the issue of wages and the facilities given to them by their employers.

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Their demands include fixed payment of Rs 350 for 1,000 bricks; an end to the practice of making 100 additional bricks for every 1,000 bricks; free housing,electricity,and drinking water facilities at the workplace; besides an access to basic health and education.

Dinesh Parmar,the secretary of the Int Bhatta Majdoor Union,said: At present,the daily wage rate for an eight-hour day is as low as Rs 40 while most of the time,workers work for 16 hours at a stretch without having any light at nights. The workers are forced to buy kerosene from their own pockets for lighting.

Parmar added that they work in near-bondage conditions.

The Int Bhatta Majdoor Union has put forward a four-point demand charter for brick kiln owners and has submitted it to Rural Labour Commissioner NR Ninama,Labour Commissioner Vatsana Basu and the deputy labour commissioner,said Reema Parmar,a member of the union.

We want to involve the government to coordinate between the workers and the kiln owners, she added.

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