Mathamangalam: truth and lies; Com. Elamaram Kareem MP

18 February 2022 Elamaram Kareem

Some media are trying to break, through false propaganda, the struggle workers are waging at Mathamangalam for the right to work guaranteed by the Headload Workers Act. The monopoly media blindly spread the falsehood that the problem at Mathamangalam is workers demanding nokkukooli (wages for work not done). The CITU is a movement that strongly opposes the injustice of demanding wages without doing work. Nowhere in the state do headload workers led by the CITU take a position supporting 'nokkukooli'. Even though the trade unions, including the CITU, have made this clear beyond doubt, some media revel in propaganda that insults workers.

Some tried to pin on the trade unions the incident at Veli in Thiruvananthapuram, where some local residents stopped machinery being brought to the ISRO. Those involved in that incident had nothing to do with any trade union in the state. The media trial was conducted hiding this truth. In the state's small markets, headload workers generally have little work. Their work is unloading goods from the goods vehicles that come to the markets now and then. They are not permanent workers of any establishment. The law defines this category of workers as 'scattered' workers. The labour department gives them work cards, and they generally earn little.

The labour department fixes wages for the loading and unloading work done by headload workers in the state, in consultation with representatives of the organisations of establishment owners and workers. It is because of such arrangements that a peaceful working atmosphere prevails in the headload sector across the state. At Mathamangalam in Kannur district too, headload workers have worked for years under these arrangements. None of the traders who have done business at Mathamangalam for years have any complaint about these workers. The traders of Mathamangalam, who are members of two organisations, the Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi and the Vyapari Vyavasayi Samithi, are on very friendly terms with the headload workers there.

Two months ago a hardware shop called 'S R Associates' began business at Mathamangalam. Under the law, the shop opened in the Mathamangalam market should use the workers to whom the labour department has given work cards in that market for loading and unloading goods. The law in force in the state applies equally to traders and workers. But the owner of 'S R Associates' tried to break the law in a place where the rule of law prevails. He put four people without labour department work cards to work in his shop. They are not headload workers. This action of the shop owner is illegal. The owner applied to the Assistant Labour Officer for labour cards for the four people he had put to work. The Assistant Labour Officer rejected this illegal application, and the Deputy Labour Officer also rejected it. The labour department officials acted under the Headload Workers Act. The shop owner then approached the High Court, which accepted his demand. The High Court gave its verdict without hearing the workers who had worked lawfully for years. The High Court had issued such verdicts in some earlier cases too. It is unfortunate that courts of justice take a stand that violates the right to work of poor workers.

On the strength of the High Court verdict, he tried to get his own people to do the work, defying the workers who have the right to work under the Headload Workers Act and have done loading and unloading in the Mathamangalam market for years. Against a rich 'trader' blocking their livelihood, the workers began a satyagraha near S R Associates. The workers' peaceful struggle has gone on for two months. The traders of Mathamangalam and workers' organisations including the INTUC supported the headload workers' struggle. There was no law and order problem in the market. Police officers tried to resolve the problem, but there was no settlement because the shop owner would not give up his obstinacy. The traders' organisations held talks with representatives of the S R Associates owner several times, without result. The shop owner was trying to turn the peaceful Mathamangalam market into a land of conflict.

The shop owner used a vile method to discredit the workers' peaceful struggle. He brought a Youth League activist who is his friend to the shop and tried to move goods. The aim was to provoke the workers striking nearby. The workers asked him not to do blackleg work for the S R Associates owner, who had thrown them out of work. That is what the shop owner and his henchmen are shouting about as an attack by workers.

The law protecting the jobs of headload workers in the state came about through years of struggle. During the UDF government of 2001, an amendment weakening this law was brought in; the LDF government of 2006 corrected it. Recently some verdicts out of keeping with the law have come from the High Court.

A group of monopoly media is unleashing false propaganda that headload workers take nokkukooli and are extortionists. Headload workers, who live by the sweat of their labour, have confronted the anti-worker forces by organising 'self-respect rallies'. Kerala is a state with laws protecting the just rights of workers in every sector. The trade unions have firmly declared that nothing will come from their side to wreck the state's development projects. History will not forgive those who try to throw poor workers onto the street for political interests.