>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: (foil-l) Workers' Centre in Mumbai > > >Dear Friends -- > > >Please distribute this proposal as far and wide as possible, to other >individuals, discussion groups and bulletin boards. We are looking for >contacts and support from labour and social activists, trade unions, and >other like-minded organisations and movements throughout the world. > > > >Regards, > > > > >Shekhar Krishnan >_____ > > >MILL WORKERS ACTION COMMITTEE >(Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti) > > >Proposal for the establishment of a >Centre for Workers' Education and Training (CWET) >Mumbai, India > > > >ABOUT US > > >Since 1989, we have been working with textile mill workers in central >Mumbai (formerly called Bombay), in an area of the city locally referred to >as "Girangaon" - the "village of mills" where the city's 58 composite >textile mills have been located for more than a century. Once considered >the heart of the metropolis, Girangaon is historically known for its >organised and militant working classes, composed of migrants who have come >to Bombay from all over the subcontinent for more than a hundred years. The >birthplace of some of the first labour unions in India, Girangaon nurtured >the Indian labour movement and the struggle for India's freedom, as well as >the post-Independence movement for the creation of the linguistic state of >Maharashtra (the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement) - the country's most >industrialised state, with its capital Mumbai as the industrial and >financial centre of Western India. > > >With the advent of globalisation, Mumbai's historic textile industry, >already in decline for several decades, received another blow by changes in >urban development policies allowing for the freer reign of market forces in >India's liberalising economy. As real estate prices in the city soared with >the demand for office space, the mills are sought to be shut down, their >workers losing jobs held for generations, destroying not only their job >security but their culture and way of life. This process has emboldened the >millowners to subcontract textile production to sweatshops in the urban >hinterland, while profiting from the sale of the former mill compounds and >their land - valuable real estate in a congested industrial city which now >styles itself a centre of global business, finance, and hi-tech services. > > >Thus, in the past twelve years, Mumbai's textile mills have witnessed >perhaps the largest job losses in the history of modern industry in India, >while paradoxically the textile industry - India's second largest >industry after agriculture, and its largest source of foreign exchange >earnings - has grown, thriving on sweated and unorganised labour. Out of a >quarter million workers in the mills in 1982, 120,000 have lost their jobs. >The remaining 70,000 continue to face the threat of job losses. > > >The recent events at the WTO meeting in Seattle have thrown up the issue of >economic security in both developed and developing countries. Amidst the >upsurge of protests against the globalising policies of governments and >corporations, the most central question in the developing world is that of >unemployment, because of the complete lack in India of any kind of 'safety >net' for retrenched workers, or welfare measures for the jobless. > > >Our work in the area started with the Closed Mills Committee, which fought >a six-year long battle for re-opening ten closed mills, from 1989 to 1995. >Though six of the mills were reopened, the mill owners were in 1991 >permitted by the municipal authorities to sell portions of valuable mill >lands, changing its use from industrial to commercial and residential >purposes, provided the money earned from this would be >reinvested in the textile mills. They proceeded to misuse this new >development policy with impunity. > > >Our committee was subsequently converted into a union called Girni Kamgar >Sangharsh Samiti, or Mill Workers Action Committee. The union currently has >a membership of over 15,000 workers and is the major union in opposition to >the officially recognised Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh, which is affiliated >to the Congress party. Our union has been fighting a battle for saving the >textile mills and Girangaon, opposing the sale of land and displacement of >tens of thousands of the area's residents as a result of ill-planned urban >development schemes, passed in the name of revival of the mills and the >rights of their workers, but whose proceeds were diverted into the pockets >of corporate barons. > > > >NEED FOR THE CENTRE > > >The struggle of the textile mill workers is not just about preserving jobs, >as their lives go beyond their workplace and their fight necessarily >involves their way of life and cultural communities. Traditionally unions >in India have restricted themselves to economic and political issues >arising at the workplace, turning a blind eye to issues arising within >workers' communities. We would like to change this. Our activists in the >union and in other social movements have seen how the groups amongst whom >we work are on the one hand being absorbed into parochial and religious >extremist organisations like the Shiv Sena, while on the other hand this >urban crisis has given rise to a powerful underworld and crime syndicates >supported by corrupt politicians and business interests. These groups, >constantly at war with each other, threaten not only the workers, but >effect the entire social fabric of the metropolis, breeding violence and >instability. > > >We have thus decided, as a natural outgrowth of our activities in the >labour movement, to form a sister organisation, called Centre for Workers' >Education and Training (CWET). > > >We feel that the workers' communities and other urban residents should be >armed with a perspective on their human, legal and cultural rights, should >be kept informed of current social and political developments, empowering >them with skills and methods as community activists. We see this as a step >towards moving away from the self-destructive slide of the workers and city >into crime and violence, encouraging social awareness and informed >participation in community development, urban policy and planning. > > > >THE CENTRE'S ACTIVITIES > > >In addition to training of community activists, sponsoring activities and >services for the workers, the Centre will also take up research and >analysis of the programmes, policies and laws of the state which affect the >workers and their communities. > > >The Centre will begin its activities at three localities in Girangaon - >Gandhi Nagar at Worli, Sewri and Elphinstone Road - working to promote and >strengthen workers' organisations and institutions. In addition to these >local interventions, some of the programmes to be undertaken by the Centre >are: > > >?nbsp; Establishing an information Centre on government programmes for the >urban unemployed. >?nbsp; Support services for workers who face retrenchment. >?nbsp; Workshops for union activists on policy issues and legal training. >?nbsp; Workshops and paralegal training regarding human rights violations by >the police. >?nbsp; Leadership training of activists of the community-based organisations. >?nbsp; Organising women on their issues of their empowerment within the larger >movement. >?nbsp; Computer classes for youth. >?nbsp; An alternative information fair for workers. > > >We envision a close and active bond between these political, educational >and legal initiatives of the Workers' Centre, and the union and the >working-class movement. > > >We are calling upon labour unions and social movements in India and abroad >to support the Centre with whatever they can contribute. We are not taking >government or institutional funds. We are open to suggestions on the work >and activities of the Centre. > > > >The costs for running the centre from January 2000 to December 2000 are: > > >1 Program Costs - Rs 4,47,000 >2 Rent of the Centre - 110,000 >3 Office Infrastructure and Maintenance - 16,1000 >4 Personnel Costs - 3,30,000 > Total - Rs 10,48,000 > > > >Donations and contributions can be made in the name of: > > >Chairperson: Professor Sharit Bhowmik, Head, Dept of Sociology, Bombay >University >Secretary: Ms Meena Menon, Vice President, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti >Treasurer: Ms Paromita Vohra, independent filmmaker > > >Address: 104, Hina Apartments, Mafkhan Nagar, Marol, Andheri East, Mumbai >400059, India. > > >For more information e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. >_____ > > >Shekhar Krishnan >58/58A, Anand Bhavan >201, Lady Hardinge Road >Mahim, Bombay 16 >India > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >** To unsubscribe, mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the sole line : ** >** unsubscribe foil-l ** >** To subscribe, or for assistance, e-mail ** >** [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** >------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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