Not paid min wages, no social security benefits: Survey reveals plight of waste-pickers in 3 Gujarat cities

It says the monthly wages of those surveyed ranged from Rs 6,000 to Rs 10,000 per person or Rs 200 to Rs 333 per person per day for 30 days’ work — depending on the weight of the waste. This is well below the government-mandated minimum daily wages of Rs 495 and Rs 473 for skilled and unskilled workers respectively.

The survey, conducted by researchers Anamika Singh and Piyush Mane, of 196 migrant tribal families where the husband and the wife were engaged in waste picking between August and October 2023, noted that around 55 per cent entered this line of work in the past one to five years. This indicates “that this is a new area of work for Adivasis migrating to Gujarat”.

The trend has been partly spurred by declining forest cover affecting livelihoods at the source leading to a transition from agricultural labour to construction work, and then a shift to waste management after the Covid-19 lockdown brought construction activity to a halt even as waste management remained an essential service.

The municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat give out contracts to private entities for waste management, who in turn employ workers through a subcontracting system for waste collection from residential and commercial establishments.

Further, working without safety or protective gears, 98 per cent of those surveyed state that they received no training for the work. The surveyed women also complained that “sometimes their hands get pricked by syringes, needles and glass” adding to the occupational health hazards they face.

Gender discrimination at the workplace makes matters worse for the tribal migrant women. For instance, when couples are deployed for waste collection work, the male is often designated as the driver — perceived as skilled work, while the women directly collect and handle the waste, which is considered unskilled work.

Further, sub-contractors restrict their dealings with the male workers and hence, women do not receive their wages directly.

With no access to toilets, drinking water, and Anganwadis or schools for their children during the work hours, workers also reported that they faced “more instances of discrimination in their interactions with the residents of houses from where they collected waste rather than in their interactions with the contractors, supervisors or corporation officials”. This also includes physical and verbal abuse faced by the workers at the hands of house occupants.

Nearly 94 per cent of the workers lived in kutcha houses and resided in basti (slums), built on land provided to them by their contractors. Most of these slums lacked access to a safe toilet, forcing them to resort to open defecation. They also do not have access to regular water supply.

Additionally, the survey also found instances where workers’ ATM cards and passbooks were being held by the supervisor, which in turn, “creates a situation wherein the supervisor can deduct some amount in the name of provident fund and hand over the remaining cash to the workers”. However, the workers admitted that their contractors or supervisors had not provided any account number to them through which they can confirm if the provident fund is being deducted or how much of the fund has accumulated in their accounts.

For instance, workers at an Ahmedabad basti who are under a contractor named Om Swachhata Corporation, received their pay once in every two months. Workers surveyed in Surat complained that salaries for the past six months were pending.

Pay can fluctuate, and some workers indicated that “while they receive the salary in their bank accounts, the amount is withdrawn by the supervisor and the cash is handed over”.  Similarly in Surat, ATM cards and passbooks of the workers were withheld by their supervisors. While 56 per cent of those surveyed indicated that they were receiving money directly in cash, 41 per cent stated that it was being deposited in their accounts first and later being given to them in cash.

AH Patel, assistant labour commissioner of Ahmedabad, who held a discussion about the study with stakeholders Tuesday, said the labour department does not have powers to suo motu conduct inspection of work sites and is empowered to take action only if a complaint is filed.

In 2020, the labour department had filed six cases before the Ahmedabad labour court against proprietors of five contracting agencies — Jigar Transport, Global Waste Management Pvt Ltd, Om Swachhata Corporation, Western Imaginary Transcon Pvt Ltd, Swachhata Corporation and Kanak Resources Management Ltd for violation of the Gujarat Minimum Wages Rules. Of the six, five pleaded guilty and were punished with fines, ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,000. The case against Kanak Resources continues to be pending with the accused not appearing before the court so far, court documents indicate.

The survey has recommended the need for collective mobilisation of the workers through unionisation and advocacy given the “lack of commitment” from the state to ensure labour standards and legal regulation in waste management and sanitation. It also stated that the current waste-pickers, who were sampled as part of the study, did not belong to any union that could help them advocate for their rights.