YCW group at Paruthiyur achieved wage increase for the workers employed in 100 days Job (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Grantee Programme)…….

Situation:

Paruthiyur is a small village situated in the district of Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu. Around 400 people live in this village. Most of them work as daily workers in the agricultural farms. However, this work is seasonal and they get 5 to 6 months work in a year. When there is no work they migrate to other places seeking jobs. In this situation, the 100 days job (Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Grantee Programme) was introduced in this village 2 years ago. Therefore, during period when they do not have work in the agricultural farms, they worked in 100 days job program. The salary fixed for this job was Rs. 80 per day but they received only Rs. 50 per day.

I was trained in YCW to develop actions”………Story of Gajendran

Gajendran, aged 35 is a National Team Member of YCW. He has been with YCW actively for last 6 years. He is a real young worker working in a spinning mill for the last 13 years, as full time regular workers. He has been trained as leader through actions. He says “I was involved in the actions for wage increase, and retirement benefits in my factory. I also accompanied the YCW members of Ethiload who developed actions for the wage increase for Applam making workers and flower picking workers”.

YCW India Demands the Central and State governments to increase the Daily Minimum Wage…….

Poster Campaign May Day 2010

We, the YCW India, organised a Poster Campaign at the national movement level to celebrate the International Week of Young Workers and May Day. The poster was calling the attention of the Central and State governments to increase the daily minimum wage of the agricultural workers and to increase the unemployment stipend for the unemployed youth. We have been demanding the governments to increase the daily minimum wage from Rs. 80 to Rs. 120 for the workers in the informal economy. We printed 400 posters in Tamil and 100 posters in English and pasted them in the towns and villages in the districts of Kanyakumari, Thirunelvely, Thoothukudi, Madurai, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Thiruvarur, Amaravathi and Akola. We also distributed 4000 hand bills in Tamil and 1000 handbills in English to the public explaining the history of May Day and the demands of YCW India.

YCW India demands to increase the daily minimum wage to Rs. 150 and jobs for unemployed young workers…….  

   We, YCW India, have been focussing the campaign for Social Protection for young workers since 1998. The priority demands of our campaign are to increase the daily minimum wage of workers in the informal economy from Rs. 80 to Rs. 150 and to provide jobs for the unemployed. In order to bring these 2 demands again to the local government and to the public, we decided to organise a press meet and a bicycle rally at Dindigul in Tamil Nadu on 29^th March 2010.

YCW Madurai took the responsibility to organise this action with the accompaniment and support from the national team. An action committee was formed including the YCW Madurai district team members and the national team. Preparation meetings were held on 13^th Feb and 23^rd March.

Press Meet

The action started with the press meeting on 29^th March at Dindigul. Reporters from 3 T.V channels and 3 news papers were present in the meeting. Rajesh, the national president explained the objectives of our action and the following demands to the press: