The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that nearly three-quarters of domestic workers across the world, or around 55 million people, are at a significant risk of losing their jobs and income due to lockdown and lack of effective social security coverage. A vast majority of them, around 37 million, are women.

According to the ILO, “An assessment made at the beginning of June shows that the most affected region was Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with 76 per cent of domestic workers at risk, followed by the Americas (74 per cent) Africa (72 per cent) and Europe (45 per cent).” This means Indian domestic workers are some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

According to a report titled, Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on loss of jobs and hours among domestic workers, “The ILO estimates that, in the early stages of the pandemic, on 15 March, 49.3 per cent of domestic workers were significantly impacted. This figure peaked at 73.7 per cent on 15 May, before reducing to 72.3 per cent on 4 June.”

Claire Hobden, ILO Technical Officer, Vulnerable Workers, says, “The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the particular vulnerability of informal domestic workers, emphasizing the urgent need to ensure they are effectively included in labour and social protection. This disproportionately affects women who make up the vast majority of domestic workers worldwide.”

The ILO is working with domestic workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations to ensure the health and livelihoods of domestic workers. Twenty-nine countries have ratified ILO Convention 189 on decent work for domestic workers, which was adopted nine years ago by the International Labour Conference. Interestingly, India is not among them. Domestic workers face class and caste-based discrimination across India, with many of them given separate untensils in households that still practice varying degrees of untouchability, despite it being outlawed.

According to ILO’s global estimates, “Only 10 per cent of domestic workers have access to social security, meaning no paid sick leave, guaranteed access to health care, employment injury benefits or unemployment insurance. Many domestic workers earn as little as 25 per cent of average wages, leaving them without savings in case of a financial emergency.”

The ILO found that migrant workers whose salaries supported their families in their countries of origin were hit hard. There has also been an increase in exploitation of domestic workers who live with their employer’s families. The ILO says, “Live-in domestic workers have mostly continued to work, in confinement with their employers. However, reports suggest they have worked longer hours due to school closures and are carrying out more demanding cleaning tasks. In other cases, employers have stopped paying their live-in domestic workers, due to their own financial circumstances or a belief that domestic workers do not need their salaries since they cannot go out.” But in another chilling discovery, the ILO found, “In some countries, where migrant domestic workers are required to live with their employers, some have been found on the streets after their employers dismissed them for fear of catching the virus. This puts them at risk of trafficking.”

The entire report may be read here:

Related:

1.6 billion informal economy workers significantly impacted by lockdown measures: ILO
India may beat Covid-19, but will it recover from the unemployment spiral?
Covid-19 pandemic has cost one in six young people their jobs: ILO
Covid-19 impact: Child Labour likely to increase

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Image: The Hindu
 
Kolkata: In May, a minor girl from Jharkhand named Soni Kumari was murdered and dismembered for asking for her rightful salary. She was a domestic worker in New Delhi. As shocking as the incident was, the plight of domestic workers has often been brushed under the carpet. They are overworked, underfed, abused and tortured. A trade union certificate given to a domestic workers group in West Bengal could overturn many of these horrors.
 
In a first, Kolkata based Paschimbanga Griha Paricharika Samit (PGPS-West Bengal Domestic Workers Society) obtained a trade union certificate from the state government earlier this week after applying for it in 2014. “Every day I set out for work at 6 am and return home in the afternoon. Since 2014 I had to rush to the Labour Department’s office several days a week to ensure that our organisation is granted trade union status,” said Tapsi Moira, the former secretary of PGPS and currently a State Committee member told The Hindu. The 38-year-old domestic worker from Dhakuria, South Kolkata, had to go to the Labour Department’s office in central Kolkata almost daily after work to inquire about the status of their application said the report by The Hindu.
 
It is the first organisation of domestic workers to be granted trade union status in the State, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) trade union leader and Minister said in the report.
 
This development could mark a milestone for people working in the unorganised sector. “They do not have fixed lunch breaks and are not permitted to take leaves, even during emergencies. If they do go on leave, employers deduct their pay. Often the situation takes a bitter turn when the workers’ demand for a salary raise ends in charges of theft levelled against them. Domestic workers often do not know how to shield themselves against such crimes,” reported The Wire.
 
“In urban areas, domestic workers face innumerable difficulties at their workplace, ranging from being given stale food to being humiliated at security checks. Sexual and physical violence too are common. A principal reason behind the systemic exploitation is the absence of legal protection for domestic workers. According to data, Indian homes have witnessed a 120% increase in domestic workers in the decade post liberalisation. While the figure was 7,40,000 in 1991, the number increased to 16.6 lakh in 2001. Over the years, incidents of crimes against domestic workers have also been reported. There are only two laws in the country that grant domestic workers ‘labour’ status. First, Unorganised Labour Social Security Act, 2008 and second, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013. But none of the laws talks about any legal framework regarding rights of domestic workers,” the report stated.
 
In 2017, The labour and employment ministry announced that it will give legal status to domestic workers in the country by formulating a national policy that will ensure minimum wages and equal remuneration for around 47.5 lakh domestic workers in India including 30 lakh women.
 

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Represenation Image

Bangladesh: Carrying scars of beatings, burns and broken bones, Bangladeshi female migrant domestic workers are coming back home from Saudi Arabia. Facing exploitation first through agents and families, these workers have also faced physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of their Saudi employers. According to reports, about 200 women return every month and at least 800 women returned home over the last four months.
 
“The Saudi Arabia National Recruitment Committee signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh Association of International Recruitment Agencies or BAIRA to recruit house-helps from Bangladesh in April 2011. However, no women house-helps went to the kingdom despite the signing of the MoU, as an interview of 150 house-helps from Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka working in Saudi Arabia published in a report by Human Rights Watch in 2010 revealed ‘physical and mental torture’ on them. Saudi Arabia again signed a treaty with Bangladesh to recruit women house-help in 2015. The treaty included a clause that three male workers will be recruited against one female house-help. Bangladesh began to send women house-helps following it. At least 83,354 women workers were sent to Saudi Arabia last year. This year 30,000 women went to Saudi Arabia as of April. Almost 175,000 women house-helps went to Saudi Arabia over the last four years,” reported bdnews24.
 
The story is eerily similar for every woman that comes back. Almost all of them report being overworked, underfed, tortured, beaten, raped and cheated out of their salaries. When they return, their families refuse to take them back and, in some cases, even pronounce them dead even though they are alive.
 
The Middle East Eye reported that “The Bangladeshi government in the past claimed that the women returned home after being unable to integrate into Saudi culture.” “Followed by a visit to Saudi Arabia, members of a parliamentary committee said lack of knowledge in local language, dislikes for Saudi food and homesickness cause the women to return home,” reported bdnews24.
 
On Monday, a group of 11 organisations committed to migrant rights submitted a memorandum to EWOE (expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment) secretary demanding that the ministry take protective measures for women migrants facing abuses in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The participating organisations included Ain o Salish Kendra, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, WARBE Development Foundation, Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, BRAC migration Programme and IMA research Foundation.
 
Ain O Salish Kendra’s observations
Sabrang India received a letter by one of the 11 NGOs, Ain o Salish Kendra from Bangladesh:
 
Physically and mentally tortured Bangladeshi female migrant domestic workers are returning to the country from different Middle-eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Lebanon. Most of them are returning with the help of Government or human rights organizations to save their lives. Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) expresses its grave concern over this matter and demands the government’s effective and urgent attention to ensure safe and secure migration.
 
According to media reports, female domestic workers are returning to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia and other Middle-eastern countries after being brutally tortured. Human rights organizations like Ain o Salish Kendra are receiving applications requesting rescue on a daily basis either by the victims themselves or their family members.
 
Mostly, all of them share the same stories of brutality. We are receiving regular complains regarding the denial of wages, sexual abuse by the male family members, physical and mental torture by the employer, not allowing the cell phone or any connection with family or embassy, no set work time, no leave etc. Besides that, they face theft and sabotage case by the employer. Even if they could manage to escape, they are forced to return to the owner despite seeking shelter from police. They’re denied medical facilities and thrown outside the embassy or the road in case of a critical physical condition and the employers practice slavery by selling them to agencies without taking any permission from the embassy.
 
22 Bangladeshi female migrant workers have died due to rape and other reasons in Saudi Arabia. At least, 1500 female workers have been sent to Bangladesh from safe homes of Jeddah and Riyadh of Saudi Arabia in between May 2015 to May 2018. Most of the returnees have lost their working ability due to physical torture. Moreover, they are being humiliated by their family and society. Socially and economically, they are living in a vulnerable condition.
 
ASK wants to express that, the government has a responsibility to the female migrant workers who have gone overseas for a better life after completing due processes. The government cannot overlook the ongoing incidents of human rights violations of our female migrant workers. The safe and secure migration of these females must be ensured.
 
Recruiting agencies that are enabling this brutality must be punished and their registration must be cancelled. Otherwise, women’s participation in this important sector will decrease significantly. ASK also demands the government to guarantee health care facilities and rehabilitation of these victims along with better diplomatic tactics.

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Accused, Manjeet, and his associates killed Soni Kumari after she demanded that he return her salary and let her go home. Image Courtesy: Indian Express

Additional DCP (outer) Rajender Singh Sagar told The Indian Express that the accused, Manjeet Singh Karketa (30), was nabbed from his rented accommodation in Nangloi’s Bhooton Wali Gali on May 17.  “Manjeet disclosed that he, along with his accomplices, brought the victim, Soni Kumari, to Delhi three years ago. They found her employment at a house in East of Kailash,” said DCP Sagar. Police said Kumari used to earn Rs 6,000 a month, and that Manjeet used to take all her salary to keep her under his control. However, a year later, she started demanding her salary so that she could return home.
 
That is when the assaults began. “Manjeet then took her to his home in Nangloi and tried to pacify her. When his efforts failed, he, along with Shalu (31) and Gauri (36), strangled the girl on May 3. They then chopped up the body, put the pieces in plastic bags and dumped them in a drain nearby. We had to join the head with the torso to identify the girl,” said Sagar. Police said that on scanning CCTV cameras near the drain, some persons could be seen carrying packets. A team led by Inspector Sukhbir Malik, under the supervision of ACP (Operations) Dinesh Kumar, then went to 200 houses in nearby localities with a photo of the girl.
 
“They showed the photo to residents… one of them said he had spotted the girl in a house in Bhooton Wali Gali. The team when to the house but found it locked… Manjeet was finally nabbed on May 17 when he visited his residence,” said the DCP. During questioning, Manjeet told police that he and his accomplices, Shalu and Gauri — who are also domestic helps — used to lure young girls from poor families in Jharkhand with employment opportunities in Delhi.

They would bring the girls to the capital and find them jobs as domestic helps, police said. “With the help of one Rakesh, the trio found Kumari a job. Rakesh used to take the money from her employer, which they split amongst themselves,” added Sagar.
 
Police said the girl was not allowed to contact her family, adding that Rakesh and Manjeet had told the girl’s employer that she was their relative and that they were in touch with her parents. Police said they will approach her employer for further investigation, and, if required, will book them under relevant charges as well.

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Photo by Jennifer N. Fish.

Mistress, owner, guardian, and consumer – these are some of the labels that have obscured the identity of those who benefit from the household labour of others. Despite decades of research and activism, traditional representations of workers as being ‘one of the family’, and their employers as a substitute mother – or in some cases a capricious taskmaster – persist. The resilience of these tropes is mirrored by the limited changes in the actual labour conditions of domestic workers, even if many policies now set standards for wages, contracts, working hours, temporary employment, safety, and the protection of migrants.

While large areas of the world still exclude domestic workers from the law, small shifts in law and social policy have contributed to the recognition of domestic workers as workers. It is in this context that the possibility of employee-employer relations within the private household emerges. The question then becomes: can employers act as allies in the struggle of domestic workers for dignity, recognition, and living wages?

To put this question differently: can employers afford not to partner with domestic workers, given that their labour takes place in arenas of the familial, personal and intimate? As the Tanzanian trade unionist Vicky Kanyoka once explained, “It is our work in households that enables others to go out and be economically active . . . it is us who take care of your precious children and your sick and elderly; we cook your food to keep you healthy and we look after your property when you are away”. Domestic workers have become ‘the oil in the wheels’ of the global economy, and essential to the functioning of households of all types.

The condition of domestic workers has gained significant traction in light of the growth of this sector globally. In 2015, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there were 67.1 million domestic workers at the global level, and more than double the amount of employers, since a number of domestic employees work for multiple households. The demand for domestic workers is expected to grow in the face of an aging population, decreased social services, and women’s rising labour market participation. 

Can employers act as allies in the struggle of domestic workers for dignity, recognition, and living wages? 
Housework and carework have remained women’s work, even if adult men devote somewhat more time to unpaid labour in the home than they did a half century ago. The perception that domestic work is women’s work feeds into the way domestic labour is undervalued, similarly to how various forms of “dirty work” have been relegated to those at the bottom of perceived racial, ethnic, class, and caste hierarchies. Despite the necessity of domestic labour, conditions are deteriorating with over 40% of all workers uncovered by minimum wage regulations and over half outside of work hour limits.

Nonetheless domestic workers have won major victories during a period of union defeat. In 2011, they gained inclusion in global labour standards when employers and their representatives joined worker and government delegates to pass the International Domestic Workers Convention 189 (C189), the first global policy instrument recognising domestic work as part of the larger “decent work” agenda to bring the informal and migrant economy under the umbrella of human rights standards.

In record time for such conventions, 24 nations have ratified C189 to date. Workers have also formed the International Domestic Worker Federation (IDWF), the first woman-led international labour federation, building upon and feeding into the work of existing national and regional unions and worker associations. Organisation by employer counterparts, however, has lagged, despite notable exceptions, such as Hand in Hand in the United States or Uruguay’s Housewives’ Association, the latter of which engages in tripartite bargaining over the terms of a national contract for domestic workers. The lack of organising at the employer level has meant that worker groups have had to step up and educate households on their responsibilities as employers.

The policy advances that have anchored domestic workers’ organising victories hinge upon employers’ capacity and willingness to actualise these protections beyond paper. Rather than the moral consciousness that may have guided some ‘benevolent employers’ to provide selective protections in their individual homes – much like the ‘good employers’ who ‘cared’ for their servants during the colonial era – recently established policies provide a potential avenue for much needed structural shifts. Yet, the success of such policies still depends on the ability and desire of ‘good employers’ to enact newly established mandates, and agree on contracts that include a fair salary, days off, sick leave, parental leave, and so on.
The perception that domestic work is women’s work feeds into the way domestic labour is undervalued

The various victories resulting from domestic workers’ national and global organising have generated new possibilities through which employers can actively participate in the movement for rights and justice in the home. This series draws together contributions on the role of employers in the fight for domestic workers’ rights from a range of perspectives. As leaders in the realms of employer activism, academia, policy, and labour organising, the experts we have convened in this policy debate have analysed the potential role of employers in terms of ensuring the rights of domestic workers, participating in activist movements, and transforming household practices. In doing so, these experts shed light on the structural and political constraints as well as the range of individual experiences that pervade various forms of intimate labour. 

As the leaders of the international movement of domestic worker repeatedly proclaimed, “women won’t be free until domestic workers are free!” The pieces within this dialogue invite a wider consideration of a collective investment in domestic worker rights, where the entrenched divides between “maids and madams” may gradually shift toward a co-investment in the the protection of the rights of those “who make all other work possible,” as the National Domestic Workers Alliance popularised.

Bridget Anderson from the University of Bristol (UK) offers a nuanced view on the limits and the paradoxes of such possible alliances, while Lucero Herrera and Saba Waheed (UCLA, USA) refer to a survey from Californian households to offer the case for an alliance driven by common interests in everyday life and shared political demands. Rosa Navarro and Mechtild Hart, from the Latino Union of Chicago (USA), emphasise how such alliances should be based on employers’ awareness, however difficult to achieve, of the structural exploitation of workers happening in this field, which goes beyond individual moral obligation. The practical challenge this poses is well illustrated by the Andrea Londoño (Fundacion Bien Humano) contribution on the Colombian case: the powerful movement that has been rising in recent years from the workers’ side does not find correspondence on the side of employers, putting under threat the results achieved so far. A contrasting example is offered by the US-based organisation Hand in Hand, which has been campaigning, side by side with workers and other stakeholders, for better working conditions, with the goal of improving the experience of care and personal services for all subjects involved. That struggle involves moving into related campaigns, like affordable health care and immigrant rights.

These experts shed light on the structural and political constraints as well as the range of individual experiences that pervade various forms of intimate labour.

The outcome of these tensions at the global level is a complex scenario, with strong differences across countries in the profile and the history of employers’ organisations. This is discussed in depth in the contributions by Elizabeth Tang and Marie-José Tayah (IDWF) and Claire Hobden and Moriah Shumpert (ILO). By describing the actors and the policy measures that have been taken at national and international level, both pieces underscore the importance of empowering employers’ organisations in order to improve workers’ rights. Among others, we include the case of a particularly significant country to this debate, by looking at what happened in the Philippines since the ratification of C189, through the eyes of a workers’ union, with an article by Julius Cainglet from the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and Ronahlee Asuncion, from the University of the Philippines.

Indeed, the organising of employers generally appears to have been a positive step towards the expansion of rights for paid domestic workers, the recognition of domestic workers as workers, and the formalisation of the care sector. Precisely because the work occurs in private spaces, employers’ individualism still tends to shape workers’ treatment, which then becomes just a moral or affective concession. A social and collective solution comes up against engrained individualism, one of the main reasons why, in many circumstances, interlocking obstacles persist in the way employers serve as allies. Yet in individual households, domestic worker policy victories – even in their infancy – map the potential for employer alllyship and the gradual transformation of an industry through collective action.

Sabrina Marchetti (PhD) is an Associate Professor at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy. She specialises on issues of gender, welfare, labour and migration, with a specific focus on the question of migrant domestic work. Amongst her publications: “Black Girls. Migrant Domestic Workers and Colonial Legacies” (Brill, 2014) and “Employers, Agencies and Immigration: Paying for Care” (Ashgate 2015, with Anna Triandafyllidou). For more info see her personal website.

Jennifer N. Fish is a global sociologist, Professor and Chair of  Women’s Studies at Old Dominion University. She has traveled with domestic workers’ movements for 18 years, including research on women’s labor in South Africa’s democratic transition. Her recent book, Domestic Workers of the World Unite! chronicles the formation of the first global union of domestic workers and their policy victory at the International Labour Organization. 

Courtesy: https://www.opendemocracy.net
 

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Recently, the otherwise docile workforce of domestic workers – most of whom are migrant labourers from the poorest states in the country – showed remarkable collective zeal against their wealthy employers in Noida (Uttar Pradesh). On the morning of 12^th July 2017, a confrontation broke out between wealthy residents in a posh housing society, Mahagun Moderne in Noida Sector 78, and a gathering of agitated domestic workers and their families. The rampant exploitation of domestic workers, and the huge antagonism between their interests and those of their employers was directly exposed with the outbreak of this agitation.

The 12^th July incident and subsequent developments have also revealed the sickening nexus between the police, employers, and right-wing politicians who have extended support to the wealthy residents. Within hours, an obvious labour issue, and the struggle of workers against the alleged illegal confinement of a female domestic worker was projected as a communal confrontation. With the accused employers and their sympathizers identifying the protesting workers and the missing domestic worker as ‘Bangladeshis’, the social media exploded with communal diatribe and messages of hate. Conditions for communal discord were consciously sown by Mahagun residents, putting at risk the lives of hundreds of workers living in neighbouring slums.

It is, indeed, perturbing to watch the regularity with which migrant workers are coming under attack from communal forces that have developed a widespread support base in our metropolitans. This has increasingly become possible, given the political climate today. It is a fact that the current political regime is nurturing hectic activity on the ground and in the realm of social media, which is geared towards steady polarization on lines of religious communities. Such polarization has resulted in Muslims being easily labelled as Pakistani, and their residential quarters being projected as ‘mini-Pakistan’. The Bengali Muslim, meanwhile, is being spontaneously conflated with a Bangladeshi. While religiosity can be seen as a cultural inheritance within the family structure, the sense of community boundary is collectively constructed and imposed. The sense of such boundary, of course, is being used in a highly instrumentalist manner. Functioning like a spontaneous ideology, the sense of community distinctions is quickly drawn upon in a multitude of circumstances – be it for a seat in a crowded railway compartment, for usurping property, for consolidating support in a local constituency, for branding a domestic worker, and so on and so forth.

Undoubtedly, to conceal the ill deeds of one of their kind, the Mahagun residents have also conveniently bracketed Bengali Muslim, and now all workers from Bengal’s districts of Maldah and Cooch Behar, as ‘Bangladeshis rioters’. Ironically, in the process of exercising their magic finger, ‘concerned’ citizens lapped up the derogatory and communally charged whatsapp and FB posts emerging from Mahagun Moderne. They proceeded to like, share and comment on the Mahagun posts in an equally communal vein; conveniently overlooking the essential fact that many of the Bengali domestic workers at the centre of the storm were Hindus. Indeed, of the many workers who have been blacklisted in subsequent days are Hindus. [See below the communally charged FB posts that were rapidly shared]

Facebook post 1

Unfortunately, matters did not stop with Mahagun posts going viral. Adding fuel to the fire, Union Minister of Culture and Bharatiya Janta Party MP, Mahesh Sharma, met the residents of Mahagun Moderne on 16^th July, and himself made insinuating references to domestic workers as ‘Bangladeshis’. He questioned the police verification process in place, and claimed that household needs compelled middle-class homes to employ ‘Bangladeshis’! With sinister confidence, the MP went on to say that the jailed slum dwellers “would not get bail for years”.

The MP even threatened trade union and human rights activists supporting the workers with dire consequences.

Facebook comments

Currently, thirteen workers are languishing in the Dasna Jail since 13^th July, and the Noida police have deliberately made it difficult for their lawyers to get them bail by slapping the charge of attempt to murder.

Culture Minister meets Mahagun residents, Courtesy: Scroll.in

Following closely on the heels of the Union Minister’s visit to Mahagun, on 17^th July shanty shops opposite Mahagun Moderne, on which the slum dwellers were dependent for their daily provisions, were razed to the ground. Clearly, while the Noida police and politicians organize confidence-building sessions with the Mahagun residents, they have simultaneously unleashed a reign of terror on domestic workers and their families living in the neighbouring slums.

The slum sandwiched between two big residential societies, Antriksh and Mahagun. Courtesy: Sandeep Rauzi

A portion of the slum demolished on 17th July. Courtesy: Scroll.in

As of today, all workers from Maldah and Cooch Behar districts of Bengal have been blacklisted by the Mahagun residents through the private maintenance and security company, JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.) to whom these services have been contracted. Interestingly, JLL is an American MNC offering professional real estate services and investment management. It has a global business that runs into forty billion rupees. In India the Company provides its real estate services in eleven cities. Given its financial interests, the JLL team in Mahagun has been working hard to ‘repair’ its image. With the help of vindictive residents at Mahagun, JLL has cracked down on the domestic workers through blacklisting, enforcement of written undertakings, fresh police verification, etc. There are also efforts being made to introduce a new housekeeping company in place of individual domestic workers.

The blacklist began with some 60 names and has off late swelled to over 140 workers. A sizeable section of these workers are Bengali Hindus. Domestic workers who have been reappointed are being forced to undergo a police verification process yet again. In fact, the situation is so hostile that all domestic workers working in adjoining housing complexes have been compelled to undergo police verification, despite having done the same a month or so back. This is a sinister attempt by the Noida police to get the workers to show up at the local police station and to possibly make further arrests, given that one of the FIRs lodged by Mahagun residents has been filed against un-named persons. The constant fear of arbitrary police action has, in fact, forced male workers to stay away at night from their homes in the slum. The female domestic worker and her husband continue to be hunted down by the police; not with the intention to investigate the matter from the perspective of the FIR lodged by them, but with the intention to place them in police or judicial custody.

A close examination of this incident, but also the broader context in which the confrontation took place is truly necessary. Below are the details of workers’ experiences, important points to note about the Mahagun case, and a critical assessment of the peculiar nature of employer–employee relationships in the domestic services industry.

1) Made in Bengal: maid in the Noida
With the steady liberalization of India’s economy, the number of workers caught in informal sector employment in the cities has grown exponentially. The number of domestic workers has also risen consistently in the post-liberalization. The 1991 Census recorded ten lakh domestic workers. Subsequent NSSO data of the post liberalization period has mapped a continuous increase in this figure. The NSSO data of 2004-05, for example, has recorded forty-seven lakh domestic workers in India; the majority of whom, i.e. thirty lakh, was women. As of today, a large number of these workers are inter-state migrant labourers from impoverished districts in Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Conservative government estimates place their figure at 4.5 million. However, other assessments put the figure of domestic workers between 15 million to 90 million.

The continuous growth of domestic workers in the country is an indicator of a deeply entrenched agrarian distress. Almost all these domestic workers have been compelled to move to the cities due to little or no access to land. Coming from either backward tribal tracts or from poor/small peasant backgrounds, many have recently lost whatever source of agrarian income they had. Unable to find regular work in the village or nearby qasbahs, they have been migrating in large numbers to the metropolitans. Many of the impoverished women and children are victims of human trafficking as local contacts of placement agencies have strategically spread out over backward districts. These wily middlemen easily bribe or fool families into sending their female relatives to earn ‘handsomely’ in the city.

A large pool of these workers are from Bengal, which may come as a surprise, given the general perception that the state underwent land reform under four decades of rule under a parliamentary Left government. Unfortunately, the state, especially its eastern districts, has witnessed very little development, and poverty is widespread. This is partly an outcome of the long-term impact of the Permanent Settlement imposed in this region during the colonial period. Truncated land reforms in the post-independence era are another reason for this dismal situation. Since the late colonial period the region has been a hotbed of radical sharecroppers’ movements against landlordism, such as the Tebhaga movement launched in 1946-47. Riding the wave of the peasant movement, the early communist party consolidated its base across many parts of Bengal, and eventually proceeded to form the government in West Bengal. Despite this, land reform has been a truncated process even in Bengal. The land reform movement (Operation Barga) and general land reforms that were launched under the aegis of parliamentary Left governments have, however, benefitted mostly a wealthy segment of occupant tenants. The NSSO data of 1999, for instance, has reported that only 30.6 per cent of all sharecroppers were registered under Operation Barga, and that there was a distinct class bias working. Other studies too have noted that influential segments of the peasantry have benefitted most from the process, which is why till today they own the largest and most productive landholdings in the village. Another important report of the West Bengal State Institute of Panchayats & Rural Development (SIPRD) showed that in 2003 as much as 14.37 per cent of registered bargadars had been dispossessed of their barga land, 26.28 per cent were insecure about losing their land in the near future, while 13.23 per cent of pattadars had also been alienated of the land they had received. With the brisk development of capitalism in agriculture there emerged a well-entrenched interlocked market for land, credit and produce, which ultimately ensured further pauperization of small pattadars and further contributed to the swelling ranks of rural poor.

As a consequence, it should come as no surprise that so many migrant workers in Delhi-NCR can be traced to West Bengal. Migrating with their families, many of these impoverished women first pick up jobs in the various construction sites. They quickly get absorbed as domestic workers once the real estate buildings are opened to occupancy. As initial entrants into the domestic services market the desperate women agree to dismally low wages. This means that with each new set of migrant workers entering the city, there is a depression in the wage rate for such services. Meanwhile, most of the men folk continue working as daily wage construction labourers. Only some of them proceed to pick up jobs as maintenance staff and cleaners in the residential complexes. From Bengal to Delhi-NCR, the journey of these migrant workers is ridden with nothing but precarity and over exploitation.

 2) The slum: the abode of hundreds of domestic workers and their families
The palatial Mahagun Moderne stands in sharp contrast to the slum tenements in the vicinity. For the workers living in these slums near Mahagun Moderne, their home constitutes a 12 x 8 feet tin box. Over and above Rs 10,000 that they are compelled to pay for installation, the workers have to shell out a monthly rent of Rs. 500/- for the claustrophobic tenement, and an additional Rs. 200/- for electricity, which is available only for a few hours at night. The rent is, expectedly, paid to local notables of nearby villages. A few installed hand pumps are the only source of water in these slums. A handful of hastily erected, make-shift toilets can be found where hessian cloth, instead of doors, is used to guard privacy. The slum is prone to flooding whenever it rains, and the swamp breeds numerous diseases. As the sun sets, large parts of the slum plunge into an eerie darkness as the only source of lighting comes from a few flickering street lights.

Sun-burnt, frail children of the workers can be found playing in the dirt. Passing by the one-room tin sheds, one often comes across sleeping infants who are covered with flies. None of the children go to school. In fact, despite the sheer poverty in this large slum cluster, forget a school; there is no aaganwadi in sight.

Children belonging to the slum near Mahagun Moderne, Courtesy: The Caravan

The children’s parents can be seen rushing to work. The women report for work at the neighbouring buildings by 5:30 – 6:00 in the morning. Some of them have bought cycles so as to commute faster to the various residential societies where they have found work. The men folk also leave early to get to nearby construction sites. While the women of the family earn paltry monthly wages as domestic workers, the men of the family engage themselves as daily wagers. Most of the men work as construction workers, or as maintenance workers in building complexes like Sunshine, Antriksh, Mahagun, etc.

3) Unveiling the panopticon: heightened surveillance on domestic workers and the alienating work regime in modern housing societies
Mahagun Moderne constitutes a ‘new’ way of life – a mini city in itself. As projected by the builder, Mahagun provides a “comfortable and fluttering lifestyle”. The landscaping, posh interiors and multitude of world class facilities for the residents are the first few things that catch a visitor’s attention. Indeed, it is difficult not to be intimidated by the sheer size and spread of the buildings and facilities. From a large swimming pool to a place for pets to play, Mahagun seems to have accounted for everything. The imposing 22 towers of different heights have grandiose names which leave the average visitor fumbling for the correct pronunciation. Many of the towers’ names are that of legendary cities found in different countries like America, Italy, Spain, etc. With names like Manhattan, Avalon, Siena, Milano, Eternia, Crema, Valencia, Ferrera, etc. there is a clear assertion of the class status of the Mahagun residents.

The grand site plan of Mahagun Moderne

Of course, a more discerning look, especially starting at the gate, provides a different picture. Watching a frail domestic worker undergoing a ‘tap-down’ by guards manning the complex’s gates is the first unusual sight. Following in the footsteps of the domestic worker through the day, one begins to wonder if there is any space for the woman to even sit down and rest as she rushes from one flat to the next. Labels distinguishing elevators to be used by workers and those to be used by the residents are another perturbing feature. The ugly underbelly of otherwise seemingly serene life in Mahagun begins to expose itself. Here, in the ‘new world’ of ‘self-sufficient’ residential complexes a large number of impoverished workers are clearly being exploited for a multitude of domestic chores. For example, in the host of facilities so carefully constructed and provided for by the Mahagun builders, there is no sign of a rest/recreation room for the hundreds of domestic workers flocking the complex from morning to evening. Clearly, a space for pets is more important than the space for a cook, ‘maid’, mali, driver, cleaner, maintenance staff, etc. to sit and rest while they move between jobs! Sitting in the common areas with CCTV cameras is not appreciated and often one gets into trouble for doing so. So basically, the workers are forced to be on the move constantly – something which is starkly different from the way in which the work rhythms usually function for domestic workers in older residential neighbourhoods and workplaces. A chai shop in close vicinity, community parks, etc. are easily accessible common spaces in older residential areas where workers have known to rest and interact with each other in between their given routines of work.
Another embodiment of the intense exploitation faced by domestic workers is the entrenched system of surveillance on them, which breeds a constant unease of being watched continuously, and thereby, nurtures immense vulnerability in the domestic worker. All common areas are installed with CCTV cameras, and domestic workers are unable to enter many such residential complexes without a ‘PASS’ issued by the employer after police verification. Despite submitting all valid documents, such verification almost always requires the domestic worker to pay money to the local police.
Mahagun Moderne has a particularly rigorous system of frisking staff that enter and exit the building. The checking/frisking at the gate is so rigorous that domestic workers are regularly inconvenienced. Calls are made to the residents by the guards even if they are slightly suspicious of a domestic worker’s movement and belongings. If a domestic worker enters the complex with a hundred rupee note, if she/he exits with even ten rupees extra, clarification is sought and the ‘madam’ is contacted. The frisking is so rigorous that domestic workers are literally unable to borrow money from each other while inside the complex. This is because such borrowing and access to money cannot be corroborated by the worker’s employer. Given this heightened degree of surveillance, the charge of theft slapped on Johra Bibi by her employer appears all the more as an accusation that has been concocted post-factum, i.e. well after Johra Bibi filed her FIR on the morning of 12^th July.

Inside the ornate flats, a relationship of abject servitude is evident. Employers are in complete control of the work conditions and the remuneration governing the relationship. Here, inside the ‘madam’s’ hearth there might not be CCTV camera, but there is a powerful whip of domination and surveillance at work. Here it is the word of the ‘madam’ that reigns, and workers are reduced to a highly vulnerable and over-exploited position. Typically, this employer-dominated work relation is characterized by low, stagnant wage rates. Wages are particularly low for Bengali and adivasi workers. The current rate in Noida’s Sector 78 for cleaning and washing of utensils twice a day is a miserly Rs. 1200/- to Rs. 1500/-. For cooking a meal twice a day for an entire family, a domestic worker is paid somewhere between Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 3000/-. Very often employers host a larger number of persons in their homes and do not pay the equivalent amount for the extra load of cooking and utensil washing. So, in many cases, domestic workers are cooking for six to 10 persons for days together, and without a raise in their wages.

Many women slaving away at such low wage rates are subsequently compelled to seek employment in more than one flat, and to make their teenage daughters pick up similar work. Extraction of more work than agreed upon at the start of employment, and the practice of arbitrarily reducing wages are rampant problems that breed over-exploitation of domestic workers. Wages are cut at the discretion of the employer, who has the last word on the number of days worked and time clocked. Of course, the majority of employers refuse to pay the domestic worker for the period when they themselves travel and are not around to get the work done. Such forfeiture of wages for no fault of the domestic worker is hardly recognized as an anomaly.

With respect to the larger quantum of work extracted, it is not uncommon to find young children (often bestowed with the now derogative, patronizing term ‘chotu’), as well as adult women being ‘employed’ as full-time domestic workers, where only food is offered in return for the 24X7 services extracted. In Mahagun Moderne itself, the Facility Office was forced into action when it was discovered recently that a wealthy resident had been keeping a full-time ‘maid’ without providing her with food, supposedly to tame her into docility.

Undoubtedly, over-exploitation of the domestic worker is facilitated by the sheer intensity of manual work extracted, low remuneration and also the regular denial of leave. In this regard, extra-economic coercion is deeply entrenched, with ‘madams’ showing up at the worker’s doorstep to compel her to come to work. Denial of weekly rest is hence a pervasive practice.  Irregular payment of wages by employers is another deeply entrenched problem in this work relation. With wages withheld for two to three months, domestic work is reduced to a form of servile labour that resembles bondage. In fact, a frequent complaint of domestic workers is that they are often threatened, post-facto, with accusations of stealing when they make attempts to obtain their pending wages. In this way, many intimidated domestic workers continue with their services, and are compelled to receive payments in lump-sums that are much lower than what was agreed upon as monthly wages.
Typically, workers’ attempts to renegotiate their terms of work are outbid by verbal, and often, physical assaults by employers. Cases of rape and murder are numerous. However, deadly assaults on domestic workers by their employers are usually brushed under the carpet as ‘suicides’. Local police stations are notorious for filing weak FIRs against employers, and delaying the filing of charge-sheets. Botched up medical reports and tardy police investigations lead to a situation where guilty employers are rarely arrested; making the conviction rate negligible.

If verbal and physical assaults prove inadequate in taming domestic workers into submission, many employers then simply proceed to debar the affected workers from entering the building complex. An arbitrary measure like this leads to a situation where the worker is unable to enter the complex to report for work at other flats. Domestic workers then take on an almost absolute risk of unemployment or criminalization when they try to obtain their dues. Such authoritarian power of the employer in this work relation bears close resemblance to penal work regimes of the early colonial period in which employers predefined the terms of contract and penalized attempts by the worker to leave or renegotiate the contract.

In the Noida incident, the domestic worker claims the same, which is that she began to be assaulted when she brought up the question of wages owed to her and expressed an unwillingness to continue working. In this regard, the fact that Harshu Sethi has claimed in repeated press statements that she ‘extracted’ a confession from Johra Bibi about stealing is indicative that she tortured the domestic worker. No employer has the right to take the law into his/her own hands and act in accordance to his/her ‘better’ judgement. But, hardly ever is the question asked why the madam took the law into her own hands and proceeded to punish the ‘maid’?

The question hardly ever arises, given just how unregulated domestic work is, and the tacit logic which accompanies unregulated work relations; namely, that the individual employer is not simply the employer but a quasi-magisterial power in the work relation. A corroboration of this essential fact can be found in some recent government reports. For example, the Ministry of Women and Child Development in a 2014 study revealed that across the country 3511 cases of violence on domestic workers were officially reported in 2011, while 3564 cases of such violence were officially reported in 2012. It is chilling to think how many thousands of unreported cases of verbal, sexual and other forms of physical assault on domestic workers exist on the ground.

4) Details of the incident
Johra Bibi is a domestic worker, who is a resident of Maydam village in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, and has been working and living in Noida for twelve years. She is from an impoverished Bengali Muslim family. She has been working in Mahagun Moderne residential complex (in many of the flats) ever since the residential complex became functional. She is a frail woman and has four children as well as a sixty-year old mother-in-law to look after. Johra’s oldest son, Rahul, is fifteen-years old. She is also mother to thirteen-year old Raju (who lives in their village in Bengal), eleven-year old Ashraf Ali, and a one-and-a-half year old toddler, Ameena.

Johra was forced to come to work at the Sethis flat on 11^th July 2017, although she had expressed an unwillingness to continue working at their residence in June itself. She was compelled to report for work by Harshu Sethi because she was told she would be paid her pending wages of two months if she came on 11^th July. Johra reported for work on 11^th July at 8:00 am along the Sethis’ cook. Usually she would finish the morning shift of work in all the different flats and proceed home to eat her lunch around 12 noon. On 11^th July she did not return for lunch and was untraceable even in the evening.

Johra alleges that while she was working at the Sethis flat, Harshu Sethi came from behind and started verbally abusing her and accusing her of stealing money. Harshu made statements like ‘mein tumhe koode-daan mein phek dungi aur kisi ko pata bhi nahi chalega’, ‘chal facility par, mein tujhe dekhti hu’, etc. Sensing something amiss and fearing the worst, Johra began to exit the kitchen. At this point, Harshu Sethi began physically assaulting Zorah Bibi and snatched her phone. [As the case is now subjudice, further sequence of events is being eschewed]

Fearing the worst, Johra’s husband visited the Mahagun complex on the night of 11^th July. He checked the register at the gate and noted that while his wife had entered the complex in the morning, she had not exited it. Unsatisfied with Harshu Sethis response to his queries, he dialed 100, the police’ helpline number. Two constables subsequently visited the Sethis. They did not allow Johra’s husband to enter the flat with them so there is no proper account of the supposed enquiries made by them. On stepping out of the flat, the two constables claimed that they couldn’t locate Johra and could do nothing further. When Johra’s husband persisted, they instructed him to file a missing person complaint at the local police station. At this point, the employer (the Sethis) made no complaint to the visiting policemen that the missing domestic worker had been caught stealing. This is an important point to note, for it indicates that the accusation of theft was levelled by the Sethis, post-factum.

Johra’s husband proceeded to submit a written complaint about his missing wife at the Sector 49 police station. It was by now nearly 12 o’clock at night. The desperate husband received no assistance at the police station. In fact, in a highly dismissive manner he told by a policeman that “yeh bhi toh ho sakta hai ki vo kissi ke saath bhaag gayi ho”. When Johra’s husband persisted that such was not possible, he was told to arrange for photographs of his wife. Of course, police check posts were not relayed the information of a missing woman. Neither was a search party constituted by the police. In fact, Johra’s husband was not even provided a stamped copy of his complaint with a diary number. Surely, such apathy and laxity on behalf of the Noida police would definitely not have been observed if a female resident of Mahagun Moderne had gone missing.

Hassled family members met outside Mahagun Moderne in the early hours of the morning the next day, 12^th July, so as to enquire if Johra had exited the building complex. On hearing about Johra going missing, other workers who were reporting for work at Mahagun began gathering. This was an impromptu response and was far from a planned, premeditated form of action. Around 6:00 am Johra was suddenly brought out, and seeing her visibly traumatized countenance the gathering grew even more agitated.

Picture of Johra Bibi being shunted out of the Mahagun Moderne complex on 12th July. Courtesy: Indian Express

Pushing and shoving by the private security guards worsened the situation. Agitated workers retaliated in self-defense. In this confrontation no one from the private security guards or Mahagun residents was hurt. Interestingly, in spite of 500 workers allegedly storming the residential complex, apart from a few scratches on the window panes near the Mahagun gate, no major infrastructure or even the glass of a single vehicle was damaged.

The police proceeded to file an FIR by Johra Bibi – something they were compelled to do because of the collective pressure of domestic workers. Johra’s is the first FIR lodged in the matter, i.e. at 8:20 am on 12^th July. It is a very short-circuited (5-lines) account of what Johra actually claims happened, and seems to be an FIR prepared in haste by the local police station. It does, however, categorically mention that Johra was assaulted by her employer and that the guards of the security complex proceeded to attack the assembled workers after she was brought out of the complex on 12^th July.

Subsequent to Johra’s FIR filed at 8:20 am in the morning, three separate FIRs have been lodged by the local police under a cocktail of charges, which include punishment for rioting (section 147), rioting armed with deadly weapons (section 148), voluntarily causing hurt (section 323), wrongful confinement (section 342), criminal intimidation (section 506), attempt to murder (section 307), among others. While one of these FIRs was lodged at 11:05 am by the employer, another was lodged at 1:30 pm while the third FIR was lodged at 9:05 pm by persons claiming to be representatives of the Mahagun residents and a supervisor, respectively.

Strategically, each of these three FIRs is more detailed than what was filed as an FIR of the domestic worker. In each of these three FIRs, the perpetuators are mentioned as Johra Bibi, her family members and several unknown persons. In two FIRs filed, no names are mentioned as victims. Moreover, the employer’s FIR has even charged the agitators with section 307, i.e. the attempt to murder. Importantly, it is in this FIR that the first reference to theft by the domestic worker appears, making this accusation appear more as a post-facto addition to the narrative than anything else.
Overall, the filing of three separate FIRs against the workers has worked towards building a convenient sequence of events as each FIR consists of additional details that cover up for weaknesses in the FIR filed prior to it. The filing of three separate FIRs in this incident is an outright violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to section 154 of the Code, the purpose of filing a first information report (FIR) is to set the machinery of criminal investigation into motion. The FIR culminates in the filing of a detailed police report under section 173 (2) of the Code. Thus, additional evidence and statements related to an incident are recorded as part of a charge-sheet filed after further police investigation. In this regard, the FIRs lodged on the 12^th July incident by two other Mahagun residents, amounts to a sheer abuse of power by the Noida police, which has compromised the possibility of a fair and just investigation by an act of double jeopardy. In other words, in complete violation of the law, the workers have been charged with the same crime and on the same counts three times as a result of three FIRs being lodged against them. Undoubtedly, the police’s express purpose is to harass the migrant workers and to trap them in jail by complicating the bail procedure.

Expectedly, on the basis of these three FIRs, on the night of 12^th July the police swept down on the slum neighbouring Mahagun Moderne. They randomly picked up 58 men from the slum, including children. One of these children was the domestic worker, Johra Bibi’s fifteen-year old son. The children were detained in a crowded police lock-up in Noida’s Sector 49 till the evening of 13^th July in contravention with all juvenile justice laws of the country. Police high-handedness was such that Johra’s son was deliberately released only at the end, and this was despite his relatives reaching the police station with his documents on the morning of 13^th July. Rahul even claims that he was denied water to drink the entire night that he was detained in the police lock-up. From the 58 detained workers, thirteen workers were produced in court. When a team of activists from Gharelu Kamgar Union (GKU) reached the thana on 13^th July along with a lawyer, a copy of the FIRs filed against the workers was denied by the SHO. The team was told to get what they wanted from the Court. Within minutes the bail petitions filed on the spot by local lawyers were dismissed.

5) The alienating court procedures
When the thirteen workers and their kin were brought to court on the afternoon of 13^th July, chaos was evident. Like a swarm of flies, local lawyers pounced on the affected workers’ kin. Swooping down on the desperate and lost family members, the corrupt lawyers began soliciting their substandard services, promising bail with absolutely no idea of the contents of the FIRs. The nature of their intervention itself indicated their incompetence, and just how difficult getting bail was going to be. After all, recent court judgements, as well as the ineptitude and corrupt practices of lawyers have ensured that workers, across the board, languish as under trials. On an average, the experience of workers in court has been extremely bitter.

The 13 arrested workers being produced in Court on 13th July afternoon. Courtesy: The Caravan

The local lawyers at the Noida District and Sessions Court extracted at least five hundred rupees each from the assembled family members. Ironically, and in a manner extremely damaging for the case, two different lawyers filed bail applications for different sets of workers. Neither of these lawyers had access to the three FIRs against the thirteen workers. They had charged the hapless relatives of the workers for a one-minute appearance, and that too in the matter of just one of the three FIRs. One of these lawyers came to know only in front of the magistrate of the District Court that section 307 was part of the FIR against which he had filed a bail application! These lawyers confidently proceeded to instruct the families to arrange for more resources so as to file bail applications in the Sessions Court. The union of domestic workers that reached the Noida court had to pay almost Rs 1000 as a bribe to get one of local lawyers and policemen to hand-over a copy of the three FIRs. Henceforth, the union and a team of human rights lawyers have been managing the legalities of the case. The legal entanglement is such that the three separate FIRs against the workers has required each incarcerated worker to produce two bailees with respect to each of the three FIRs. Thus, if granted bail each worker has to produce six bailees; amounting to seventy-eight bailees in total for release of the thirteen workers on bail!

The filing of fresh bail applications was a tedious process, given the corrupt functioning of local lawyers and court officials. The union’s legal team has had to work very hard to get the local lawyers to comply with a common strategy that favours all incarcerated workers. The money-minting practices of local lawyers are so entrenched that getting access to even a non-certified copy of the bail dismissal order required the union to pay Rs 600 to the local lawyer. The lawyer obstinately refused to give a copy of the order even to the family members of those whom she had represented in the District Court on 13^th July and was now hoping to represent in the Sessions Court. Given these malpractices, it was not surprising to learn that the local lawyers’ association in Noida has imposed a separate format of wakalatnama to be used in the court; forcing clients to pay Rs 150 for a stamped judicial paper which otherwise costs Rs 12.

As of today, the bail petitions are pending in the court and it is with respect to only one of the three FIRs that the workers have been granted bail. The day they were supposed to produce their bailees and sureties, and other bail petitions were to be taken up in court, there was a strike by local lawyers. Each day of the court proceedings have, more or less, brought huge disappointment and distress. In this light, it was heart-breaking to watch a despondent female domestic worker sell her pink bicycle so as to tide over the expenses incurred by court proceedings.

Things function in an equally dismal and arbitrary way in the Dasna Jail. Ironically, despite visitors’ hours being advertised as 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, the jail stops visitors at 12 noon itself.

(6) The challenge
The extent of the absolute authority enjoyed by the employer in the domestic work industry is undeniable. Importantly, the Indian state plays a complicit role in this private nature of regulation and the resulting overexploitation of domestic workers. This is evident in the Indian state’s unwillingness to ratify the ILO’s Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, and thereby, to modify landmark labour laws so as to bring domestic work under the purview of state regulation. The complicity is also evident in the day-to-day response of the police when matters of pending wages, physical assault, etc. are reported by domestic workers. The average police station and PCR are unwilling to intervene in the domestic work relation, as expressed in the lax response of the police to workers’ complaints. Their unwillingness is driven by the tacit understanding that the nature of domestic work is such that there is nothing unusual about getting punished in various extra-judicial ways. The manual nature of the chores performed and the private/personal nature of the workplace is used to make a case for privatization of regulation and continuous non-intervention by the state in the domestic services industry.

It is then evident that the form/mode of this work itself needs be transformed. However, mere legislative action by the state is insufficient to transform the logic and dynamics of this work relation. This is because the state’s role as an enforcer of labour rights rests ultimately on the public presence of collective labour’s power. The private regulation of work in this employer–employee relationship can only be challenged by the public power of collective workers. Only such organized power can ensure implementation of existing legislation, and also to take the private realm of domestic work beyond the framework of dependent labour.

 ——————
Maya John teaches History at Jesus and Mary College in the University of Delhi, and is associated with Gharelu Kamgar Union (GKU).
Sunita Toppo is a full-time domestic worker, and is an executive committee member of GKU.
Manju Mochhary is a former domestic worker who had been working since childhood as a domestic worker. She is also an executive committee member of GKU.

Courtesy: Kafila.online
 

The post Noida’s Domestic Workers Take on the ‘Madams’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Edited after speaking to Zohra:
This is Zohra, a 26 year old who works as a domestic help in Noida. Following a tiff with her employer, she went missing for a day. Her family and neighbors – poor day wage laborers – started protesting and demanding to know her whereabouts. I spoke to her a while back and she confirmed she was locked up in a room the whole day [not in the boot of the car as my original post said]. Noida police, instead of taking action, is now firing at the protesters. There are at least five of them waiting outside, waiting for me to address this. I feel helpless and quite wretched because apart from posting on social media and speaking to the police, I don't even know from where I should start addressing this deep rot!!
 
These photos also on the post are shameful visual testimony to the treatment meted out to her:
 

The post When Zohrabi failed to Return Home, Concerned Neighbours found her Confined & Abused: Urban India Throws Up Bitter Class Bias appeared first on SabrangIndia.