Workers demand their rights

Domestic workers lead by National Union of Informal Workers staged a demonstration, demanding entitlement to minimum wages, outside the house of the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Civil Lines on the occasion of Labour Day on Friday.

Over 500 domestic workers gathered from different parts of Delhi and demonstrated outside the CM’s house demanding adequate wages, entitlement to holidays, maternity leave and disability insurance.

The workers wanted to hand over a list of the demands to the Chief Minister, but he refused to meet them, said a member of National Union of Informal Workers (NUIW).

After CM refused to meet the domestic workers, they intensified their protest and shouted slogans against him. “Why the so-called CM of aam admi refused to even meet them, let alone hear about their plight,” they said.

“However, the list of demand was handed over to the officials present there,” said the member.

“Later, it was decided that if the government does not pay heed to their demands and take necessary action, a protest of much larger scale will be staged to highlight the plight of informal sector,” he added.

On the day, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) has also written to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Delhi appealing them to take steps to stop the harassment faced by hawkers from police and municipal officials in the city.

Arbind Singh, the co-ordinator of NASVI said there are many Supreme Court judgements in favour of street vendors but these are rarely implemented.

The letter of NASVI mentions “The situation of street vendors in Delhi has been deteriorating drastically despite the enactment of Street Vendors Livelihood Protection Act 2014. However even after a year, not a single certificate of vending has been issued in the entire country,” said Singh.

He added that the vendors toil hard to make a living still they face harassment. “They work for 14 to 16 hours but are treated like criminals. They are put behind bars on frivolous reasons. They are beaten up and their goods are seized and destroyed,” Singh said. 

“This inhuman treatment should be immediately stopped.”