wage theft plagues india’s migrant workers
TRANSCRIPT
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Wage theft plagues India’smigrant workerswritten by Yamuna MatheswaranJuly 13, 2021
Though the South Asian country has reliedheavily on remittances from its internationalmigrant workers, the government has beenremiss in ensuring their protection and welfare.As labor violations spike amid the COVID-19
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pandemic, these workers are left to fend forthemselves.
In August 2020, a group of around forty Indian construction workers staged ahunger strike in Kraljevo, Serbia, demanding to be paid. In addition to notreceiving months’ worth of wages from their employer, they had been working10-12 hours a day without proper food or access to healthcare and were living incramped, unhygienic quarters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The migrant workers from across India first arrived in Serbia in mid-2019.According to the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), a global unionfederation, around 150 Indians were employed across the Balkan country for theconstruction of the Corridor 11 project. In a Zoom interview, two of the workersrecounted how their troubles with getting paid had begun soon after arrival.When their situation didn’t improve, the first group was repatriated to India inJanuary and February 2020. The rest, including those protesting in Kraljevo, wererepatriated by September 2020.
Much of the Indian government’s efforts have been focused on Gulf countries,where, based on data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 9million Indians live and work. However, the BWI warns that Europe is fastbecoming a hub for the exploitation and trafficking of third-country nationals. InSerbia, other reports of exploitation of migrant groups from China and Turkeyhave recently come to light.
When he heard about the stranded Indian workers, Ramachandra Khuntia, chairof the BWI Indian Affiliates Council and a former Member of Parliament (MP)contacted the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian embassy inBelgrade multiple times.
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the BWI warns that Europe is fast becoming a hub for the exploitationand trafficking of third-country nationals.
What followed was a cross-border initiative involving labor unions, the Indiangovernment, and Serbian anti-trafficking organization ASTRA. “We were finallyable to bring the workers back home. But ‘til today, they have yet to receive theirwages from the employer,” says Khuntia.
“The payment of arrear wages is usually dealt with by the labor department in thehost country, but the matter can be pursued through the Indian embassy,”explains Khuntia, adding that despite assurances from the Indian government andthe Indian embassy in Serbia, the payments seem nowhere in sight.
Indian construction workers stage a hunger strike in Kraljevo, Serbia, in August2020. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, wage theft has soared across the world, andoften, the victims are migrant workers from India, who receive patchy support
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from their own government and have to rely on unions or non-profits for help.(Photo credit: BWI/Boobalan D)
Job loss and other ordealsWage theft — the illegal practice of denying workers the money that they arerightfully owed — has dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inaddition to the non- or incomplete payment of wages, employees have to deal withjob loss, non-payment of termination benefits, poor working conditions, andhurried repatriation without the chance to register their grievances.
Migrant workers’ troubles begin in their country of origin, not abroad.“It is a new form of slavery that begins before they even leave thecountry in the form of recruiting fees. Recruiting agents and othersinvolved are selling dreams to migrant workers.”
Ponkumar Ponnuswamy, president of TKTMS, a construction workers’ union inTamil Nadu that was directly involved in the process of repatriating the strandedworkers, says that each of the workers is owed anywhere between the equivalentof US$1,300 and US$2,600 by the aforementioned company, depending on howlong they were in Serbia. For the workers who were put through this tryingordeal, their unpaid wages represent a substantial amount of money that wouldhave otherwise gone towards debt repayments, medical treatments, and basicsubsistence.
“I think it is a huge loss not only at the individual level but also at the countrylevel,” says S. Irudaya Rajan, an expert on Indian migration and member of theKerala government’s COVID-19 expert committee. Migrant workers constitute anintegral part of the global economy, with their remittances adding up to overthree times the amount of international aid and foreign direct investment
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combined. India, the world’s largest source of international migrants, receivedUS$82 billion in remittances in 2019 according to World Bank data, a sum thathas helped keep millions out of poverty.
“COVID-19 has become a great opportunity for exploitation,” says Rajan, who iscurrently heading a study on counter-migration from the Gulf to assess wagetheft.
But according to him, migrant workers’ troubles begin in their country of origin,not abroad. “It is a new form of slavery that begins before they even leave thecountry in the form of recruiting fees,” he says. “Recruiting agents and othersinvolved are selling dreams to migrant workers.”
The Indian government requires recruiting agents to register themselves with the
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Protector General of Emigrants. Despite this, many illegal agents continueoperating across the country. (Photo credit: Yamuna Matheswaran)
Is the Indian government doing enough?In theory, the Indian government offers various resources for those who emigratefor work: registration portals, insurance schemes, awareness programs, andhelplines. They also provide a list of registered recruiting agents (RAs) across thecountry.
But the reality of emigration is far more complex, even confusing. For instance, itwould be safe to assume that only a fraction of the RAs operating in India isregistered with the MEA. A 2018 investigation by the Migrant Forum in Asia(MFA), with the support of ILO, found that in the state of Punjab alone thenumber of unregistered agents ran into several thousands, despite the 2014Punjab Travel Professionals Regulation Act requiring mandatory registration of allconsultants, agents, and advisors involved in sending people abroad.
These unscrupulous agents make emigrants more vulnerable to exploitation bycharging illegal fees and pushing unfair contracts. Some workers arrive in aforeign country only to learn that the job they were recruited for doesn’t exist,says Rajan. Others end up without appropriate visas or permits and are neverregistered in the system.
The MEA limits the service fees RAs can charge their clients, which caps at INR20,000 (around US$270). But Rajeev Sharma, Regional Policy Officer at BWI’sSouth Asia office, says that many of the workers have paid far more depending onthe state they hailed from.
“Workers from Punjab, for instance, paid up to INR 100,000 (US$1,365) to150,000 (US$2,048) to the agent,” he says. “We don’t know how they managed to
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fund their journey, they may have run into debt – so it’s not just the salary, somany other issues are involved.” When asked about this practice, one of theagencies involved – an unregistered ‘Shakti Tread Test Centre’ run by MuktinathYadav in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh – gave no response.
“Covid-19 has become a great opportunity for exploitation” – Dr. SIrudaya Rajan, an expert on Indian Migration
Indian missions abroad are tasked with ensuring the welfare of overseas Indiannationals. The migrant workers and union members state, however, that theIndian embassy in Serbia failed to even register their grievances properly. TheEmbassy of India in Belgrade did not respond to requests for comment. Inresponse to an inquiry about grievance redressal mechanisms for repatriatedmigrant workers, the MEA’s Protector General of Emigrants instead pointed tothe Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra, a general helpline.
Amnesty International raised concerns about the state of migrant workers underCovid-19 in the Gulf.
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Image Credit: amnesty.org
“Grievance portals address a lot of topics, including pre-departure issues.However, there needs to be a specific focus on wage theft, particularly duringCOVID-19,” says Rajan. He stresses the importance of collective bargaining byvarious governments at the South Asia level, as well as proper grievanceregistration by Indian embassies in order to pursue the necessary legal steps.
Recognizing the lack of global mechanisms to address wage theft, Congress MPShashi Tharoor stated during a panel discussion last year that an escrow fundcould be set up, with employers depositing six months’ worth of wages in order toprotect workers against non-payment.
Need for awareness buildingIn the case of the Indian migrant workers in Serbia, it was labor unions thatinitially came to their rescue, following through until they had arrived safely backto their respective homes. When asked if there is enough awareness amongmigrants themselves about their rights and the resources available to them, Rajansays: “Absolutely not, and I think that is where we are failing.”
“Migration has three cycles,” he explains. “The first — pre-migration cycle —happens in our country,” and steps to protect migrant workers need to start here.Rajan believes that the government should make pre-departure orientationprograms, including skills training, mandatory. “Most workers don’t even knowthe currency of the host country. They know, in rupees, how much they expect tomake and in how much time.”
Khuntia, of the BWI Indian Affiliates Council, highlights the utter importance ofsigning bilateral agreements with host countries regarding wages, healthcare,and social security so that those emigrating can feel secure. “And if anythingwere to happen, by virtue of this bilateral agreement, the Indian government can
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negotiate with the host country and provide relief to the workers,” he concludes.
“If everybody were cheated, there would be no migration,” says Rajan. But it’simportant to share not only success stories but also those of struggles, hecontinues, to raise awareness among prospective migrants. It’s not about “howmany people we send” but about how well-informed our migrant workers arewhen they are deployed abroad, he says.
This article was first published on Asia Democracy Chronicles.
Feature Image: dw.com