-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This article is posted on this list in 2005 August. This is a story before the SEZ Act 2005 which is extra notorious on labour laws.
At Cochin's Special Economic Zone, independence is a forgotten ideal. Here, as in other SEZs, the government has long treated native soil as territorial possessions of foreign nations, exempt from taxes, rules and safeguards that apply elsewhere. The only losers are the workers. P N Venugopal reports that now this charade is being expanded. http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/aug/eco-sezone.htm <quote> The workers, once they enter the premises do not have any contact with the outside world. The work atmosphere is oppressive; the eerie stillness of work is only occasionally broken by a woman asking for permission to use the toilet. "There are restrictions even in going to the toilet. The supervisor will shout if we take more than a few minutes," says Sajitha, a semi-skilled worker in a ready made garment unit. "How much ever hard we work, we are scolded and shouted at in front of others. There are very few days when I've not cried." The workers are reluctant to talk, and are afraid of being quoted. Sajitha [not her real name] and other women workers who spoke about the intimidating atmosphere in the Cochin zone insisted on changing their names when quoted. </quote> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGYkqaF+jWtLmEaycRAmJCAJ96cAXC2l79gim3nXV/tscdp9M/fQCePEyc wx6HuTyx//VYMRNffDg4As4= =NqV0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
