They are on their way to work at the crack of dawn, often returning home late in the evening. In the posh high rise apartment complexes all over the city of Mumbai and its suburbs, these are the women who perform cooking, cleaning and other domestic chores. In return, they bring home meager wages that just about enable them and their families to keep moving on in the daily struggle for survival. In many cases, these women are the sole bread-earners of the family and have to travel long distances from the slums where they live, to hold on to their jobs. Some are barely in their teens; others are carrying on this daily battle for survival even at an age when they ought to be regarded as senior citizens by official standards. Many of them have shocking tales to tell, of abuse and indignity at the hands of their employers.

But today, they are organizing in defence of their rights. Their organization – Jagrut Ghar Kamgar Molkarni Sangathan – has not only helped them come together but also given them confidence that together with other working people, they too can demand and fight for their rights as workers and as women.

Malin Sonawane, General Secretary of the Jagrut Ghar Kamgar Molkarni Sangathan, recently spoke to a correspondent of MEL about their organization, their struggle, the problems they face and the awareness that they are striving to create among the domestic workers of Mumbai. We reproduce below excerpts of the interview.

MEL: What were the circumstances that inspired you to take up this work of organising the domestic workers in Mumbai?

MS: Our organization was formed about 5 years ago. I was myself a domestic worker at that time. I would see workers in other sectors organized in unions, holding dharnas for their demands and I wondered why we, who are also workers selling our labour in the same way as others, have to work literally like slaves and cannot even demand as a right, to be treated with dignity. During one of my visits to the Labour Ministry I came across a document of a draft law on domestic workers. That gave me the idea and I began to talk to my sister workers. We met women domestic workers in many different parts of the city. At first most of them were afraid of the idea of forming an union; they feared they would be thrown out of their jobs. Gradually we were able to convince them that in fact, by organizing ourselves into a union we would be able to fight for better working conditions and security of our jobs.

MEL: What is the reach of your organization at this time?

MS: We have nearly 18000-20000 members in the Churchgate to Borivili region. We have units in each basti, which hold monthly meetings at a fixed date and time. In each local area we have our activist leaders who are constantly in touch with the members of that area, mobilize them to come to the meetings with their problems and also make new members. We discuss our common issues, build close ties amongst ourselves and work to raise the consciousness of our sisters, that we have the right to be treated with dignity. Whenever any of our sisters are harassed by their employer or face the threat of being thrown out of their job, we immediately take steps to ensure that no injustice is done to her.

MEL: Can you give an example of how you have dealt with injustice done to any of your members?

MS:  One of our members was falsely implicated in a case of theft (the ‘stolen’ articles were later found misplaced in the house itself). She was beaten up, dragged out by pulling her hair and locked up for several hours. When we learnt of the incident, we immediately gathered in full force at the house where she was working. The police had already been called by the maalkin, in anticipation of our action. We demonstrated in front of the local police station and filed a case of harassment against the maalkin. We forced her to apologise before all of us. We took our affected sister to the doctor, as she was terrified and also hurt; we counseled her and helped her to get another job.

Our sisters often face sexual harassment of various kinds. In such cases we give a stern warning to the employer and if this is disregarded, we carry out actions to publicly humiliate the employer, so that the harassment is not repeated. We may also file a complaint with the police if necessary. If any one of our sisters is thrown out of her job, we make sure that no one else takes her place until the matter is sorted out and her job is restored. 

MEL: What are some of the other issues your organization deals with?

MS: We take up issues of violence that our sisters face in their own homes. With the help of other organizations, we run a HIV counseling centre and an adult literacy centre in the evenings so that our sisters can learn to read and write. We have helped nearly 3500 women domestic workers to open their own savings bank accounts, in which they can make regular savings for the future.

We are registered as a trade union. Our members each pay a monthly contribution of Rs. 4. We use this money to carry out our organisation’s work and also to assist any of our sisters in a crisis.

We have no job security, no weekly holiday and no bonus. These are some of our demands which we have raised with the government.

We have been carrying on a sustained struggle in the bastis where our members live, to procure ration cards for all the residents and we have had some success in this. We carry out public demonstrations against ration shop owners who hoard away the good quality wheat and rice to sell at a higher price in the black market, and try to palm off the poor quality wheat and rice to the ration card holders. We file complaints against such ration shop owners with the PDS officials and make sure that action is taken against them. So now they are afraid of us and generally give the residents the good quality materials.

MEL: What are some of your plans in the immediate future?

MS: We are continuing our struggle for procuring rations cards and ensuring proper supply through the ration shops. We plan to set up a committee of 5-10 residents for each ration shop, to look after this. We also plan to set up mohalla committees to deal with local problems as well as police harassment. We are realizing that political education and awareness is very important for us to be able to change our conditions, and we plan to take this up seriously with the help and guidance of organizations such as your party.

MEL: Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with us. We congratulate you on the excellent work you are doing and wish you success in your struggle.