Historical indefinite strike of
Anganwadi workers and helpers in Maharashtra
Nearly 2 lakh
Anganwadi workers and helpers of Maharashtra have started their indefinite strike
from 6th January and it went on till 5th February, a one
full month. 90 thousand Anganwadis and 20 thousand Mini Anganwadis are closed
and all the 6 services given by the workers have been stopped since 6th.
The call of strike was given by the Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Karmachari
Kriti Samiti of which Anganwadi Karmachari Sanghatana, affiliated to CITU and
AIFAWH is an important part.
The demands of the strike are mainly Retirement benefits, Regularisation,
Raise in honorarium, Supply of freshly cooked supplementary nutrition food of good
quality, 1 month Summer vacation and 15 days medical leave, No privatization of
ICDS and No corruption. The strike is total and still going on with full
strength because of the historical unity we could achieve due to the joint efforts
of all the 6 Unions which have come together to form an action committee. These
efforts started in 2010 when 5 unions working among the Anganwadi workers came
together to observe the one day token strike on 11th July for which
call was given by AIFAWH. The joint struggle was launched by the token strike
and followed by many district level and state level rallies demanding Pension
and Minimum wage along with other local issues. We could solve some of the
local issues but the main issues of Pension and enhancement of honorarium
remained unsolved. The kriti Samiti decided to go on indefinite Strike from 22nd
October 2010 which went on till 26th and was called off from 27th
with a promise to implement Pension scheme and give raise in honorarium but the
promise was not kept and we could not achieve anything except a nominal raise
0f rs 250, 200 and 100 respectively in the honorarium of Workers, Mini Anganwadi
workers and Helpers.
We held several joint and separate actions and struggles in 3
years but the issues were not solved so the Kriti Samiti gave an ultimatum in
the form of a notice to the Government on 30th September 2013 that
if the pending file of onetime lump sum amount to be given at retirement
through LIC is not passed and a substantial raise in honorarium is not given,
we will go on indefinite strike in the beginning of 2014. This time one more
union joined the Kriti Samiti with a Convenor Committee of M A Patil of M R A K
Sangh(NTUI), Shubha Shamim of A K Sanghatana(CITU), Sukumar Damle of A K
Union(AITUC), Kamal Parulekar of A K Sabha (HMS), Bhagwan Deshmukh of M R A Sevika
Madatnis Mahasangh (Independnt), Sushila Kulkarni (Sarv S S). We held a massive
demonstration at Azad maidan, Mumbai on 22nd October to warn the
government and announced that if the issues are not resolved till the end of
the year we will go on strike from 6th January. A delegation of
Kriti Samiti also met the Chief Minister Shri Prithviraj Chavhan on 23rd,
gave him memorandum and discussed in details. We also tried to meet the Deputy
Chief Minister and Finance Minister Shri Ajit Pawar but could not meet him because
all our efforts to get his appointment failed. District level rallies were held
on 23rd December to give notices to the district administration and
notices were also served to the Commissioner, ICDS, The Principle Secretary,
Women and child Development department, The WCD minister, the Dy CM and the CM.
Nobody called us for talks till the date of commencement of the strike and we
had to go on indefinite strike from 6th January 2014. District level
rallies were held in more than 25 districts in which our organisation took
initiative in 18 districts.
The Kriti Samiti called for a massive state level rally again
on 8th January at Azad maidan. More than 15 thousand workers and
helpers gathered there and held a militant agitation. We had insisted that
either the CM or Dy CM should call us for talks and not WCD Minister or
Secretary, because the file of Retirement benefit had already been forwarded by
them to the Finance department and was pending there for more than 8 months. We
also warned that if they do not call us before 4 pm, we will court arrest. The
workers became restless when the deadline was crossed and started to proceed
further to go out of the ground and hold the traffic. The Police tried to stop
us and shut the gates but more than 1000 workers could come on the roads, many
of them climbing the gates and jumping out held a militant rasta roko. Some
women had minor injuries in this attempt and also in the mild lathi charge. We
held traffic for more than 30 minutes and the main road near CST was blocked. The
CM called our delegation at 6 and we responded to the repeated appeals of the
Police to leave the roads when they took our delegation to ‘Sahyadri’ the state
guest house where the Cabinet meeting was going on. The CM Prithviraj Chavhan,
WCD Minister Varsha Gaikwad, Minister Harshvardhan Patil and Ujjwal Uke, Principle
Secretary, WCD held talks with us. We had expected that the Finance Minister
Ajit Pawar would be present in the talks but he declined to join. The CM
promised to pass the proposal of retirement benefit of 1 lakh for the workers
and 75,000 for the helpers in the coming cabinet meeting. He also asked the WCD
department to prepare a proposal of raise in the state share of the honorarium.
We demanded that the raise should be substantial so that we should be able cope
up with the steep price rise. We also provided them with the data of the extra honorarium
given by the 14 states who are ahead of Maharashtra. We also demanded that the
amount for worker and helper should be the same so that the disparity between
their honorarium should be decreased, like West Bengal. We also demanded that
it should be connected to the price index and regularly revised like Tripura. We
were shocked to know that despite our consistent struggle, the department has
failed to even propose a raise and put it forward to the Finance department. The
CM had to ask them to prepare a proposal for the same. It was also decided that
the CM would co-ordinate between all the concerned departments and take
initiative for speedy decisions.
We shifted our struggles to the district and local levels in
the second week. All the districts like Pune, Satara, sangli, Kolhapur, Jalna,
Nanded, Nasik, Ahmednagar, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Amarawati, Wardha, Gondia,
Bhandara, Buldana, Thane and Mumbai where we have established units or new
contacts were active in these local struggles with our initiative and
participation either in joint struggles or separate actions. Rasta roko, Jail
Bharo, demonstrations and sit-ins in front of the offices or residence of
Ministers and MP, MLAs, Collectorates, Commissionerate, were held daily in the
second week. Nearly 25,000 workers were on the roads every day in the whole of
the state. We warned the government that if the demands are not met we will sit
on indefinite relay hunger strike in Mumbai and the districts from 20th
January. The Finance department totally ignored our demands so we started the
relay hunger strike from 20th. We got good Media coverage and
support. All the Marathi News Channels held talk shows and special programs on
our strike and agitations held in Mumbai and all the districts. All the Marathi
papers also gave daily updates of our agitations and talks held with the
government. Some of English papers also covered them occasionally. The Trade
Unions Joint Action Committee of Maharashtra also held a rally in the support
of our strike on 22nd in Azad maidan in which Com A D Golandaz,
AITUC; Com K L Bajaj and Com Vivek Monteiro, CITU; Com Vishwas Utgi, AIBEA, Com
Joy Xavior, LECOY, Sathi Suryakant Bagal, HMS; Com Milind Ranade, NTUI; Com
Uday Bhat, Sarv Shramik Sangh were among the leaders who spoke in the rally. AIFAWH
also took initiative in giving us support of Anganwadi Unions from other states
and also sent fax and e-mails to the CM of Maharashtra.
The consistent struggle and media attention did bear some fruits
and The Finance Minister called us for talks on 23rd January. He promised
to sanction the amount demanded by the WCD department for retirement benefits
and raise in honorarium as soon as the files came before him and keep them
ready to be kept in the cabinet meeting and be passed. We also held meeting on
the same day with the WCD Minister and secretary. They said that the raise of
Rs 1000 for workers and 500 for helpers is proposed and the file has gone to
the planning department. We protested and opposed the move of raising it
meagrely and argued that the amount is too less compared to states like Goa, Tamil
Nadu and Haryana and we also disagreed the proportion of 100:50 for workers and
helpers. We held the Kriti Samiti meeting following the talks and decided after
a long discussion that though the amount raised is too less, we should agree
upon it for the time being in the view of getting the pension cleared immediately
as a priority. The government requested the kriti Samiti to call off the strike
with effect from 24th but we took a firm stand that we would call it
off only when the decisions are taken in the Cabinet meeting.
The strike continued but we suspended
the action programs as per the request made by the Ministers that the decisions
of retirement benefit and raising honorarium are almost done and the process of
sanctioning 15 days medical leave in case of hospitalization and 1 month summer
vacation to be availed alternatively is under process, and we should give the
government and administration some time to complete the procedure. We also
considered that and suspended our agitations till 29th. We expected
that at least the decision of retirement benefit will be taken in the Cabinet
meeting of 29th as promised by the both the WCD and Finance
Ministers. But the promise was not kept and the Cabinet meeting did not take
our matter on the agenda at all. We resumed our action programs from 30th
itself at district level and called for massive mobilization again in Azad
maidan on 4th and 5th February. The mobilization on 4th
broke all the previous records. More than 25,000 workers and helpers gathered
deciding not to go back without achieving something. They gave slogans, sang
revolutionary songs relevant to their struggle, narrated their stories and
described how they met all the challenges and continued their struggle for the
whole month. They also showed their strength and firmness to continue the
strike if the government failed to take decision on retirement benefit and
honorarium. The Chief Minister met our delegation on 4th February
late in the evening. He told us that the
decision on one time retirement benefit will be taken the next day because the
file is ready with all the procedure done but they will not be able to take up
the honorarium issue in the same meeting because the cabinet note was not
ready. It was cleared by the Finance Minister previously, Chief Secretary on
the last day of the previous week and State and Cabinet Ministers on that day
only but his administration could not prepare a note which was mandatory due to
lack of time and he will definitely keep it in the next meeting. He also
requested us to call off the strike. We again told him that we will call it off
once the cabinet clears them.
The Workers stayed overnight in the
maidan and resumed their agitation early in the morning. More women came the
next day anticipating the need to agitate militantly if the government fails to
take any decision on 5th. We could see women all over the place. The
Azad maidan had overflowed. They were everywhere, in the adjoining sports
ground, on footpaths, in the open space between the maidan and the CST station.
The CM announced the Cabinet decision that they have sanctioned the retirement benefit
of 1 lack for workers and 75,000 for helpers with 20 years of service. The
other decision did not come up as it was not on the agenda of the meeting. It
was a partial victory but an important achievement. We could get retirement
benefits for the workers whom they did not consider their employees at all.
Though we did not get the raise in the same meeting, they had promised to clear
it in the next meeting. It was a tough time for us. We had to decide about our
next move, whether to continue with the strike or call it off with partial
achievement. The Kriti Samiti discussed for more than 2 hours and considered
all the pros and cons. At the end we decided to announce that we will suspend
our strike for the time being considering that we had at least achieved
retirement benefit for which we had to struggle for a decade and which was a
qualitative change in our service conditions and call it off once we also get
the raise in honorarium which was in the process. That was a testing time for
us because we had to suspend the strike without any immediate relief in terms
of quantitative monetary gain. Though it was promised by the government, the
decision was not taken on that day itself. It was not easy to convince the
workers who gathered there and were ready for an action to go back without any
immediate gain. We had to do it keeping in view a wider unity. The workers and
helpers went back with mixed feelings, full of confidence that if they could go
on strike for a one full month, they can again resume their struggle any time
if the government went back on their words of raising their honorarium by 1000
and 500.
As declared by the kriti Samiti, we again declared our district level agitation on 20th and 21st February and announced our long-march on 25th in Mumbai and Sit in from the same day till the Government announces the raise. The district level agitations were held as planned and the preparations for 25th Mumbai march were going on. Before we could gather in Mumbai, the Chief Minister held a Cabinet meeting on 23rd, on the eve of Assembly session though it was a Sunday and took a decision on the honorarium, raising it by 950 for the Workers, 500 for the Helpers and 450 for the Mini AWWs. We declared our decision of withdrawing the strike and forthcoming agitations and welcomed the raise.
As declared by the kriti Samiti, we again declared our district level agitation on 20th and 21st February and announced our long-march on 25th in Mumbai and Sit in from the same day till the Government announces the raise. The district level agitations were held as planned and the preparations for 25th Mumbai march were going on. Before we could gather in Mumbai, the Chief Minister held a Cabinet meeting on 23rd, on the eve of Assembly session though it was a Sunday and took a decision on the honorarium, raising it by 950 for the Workers, 500 for the Helpers and 450 for the Mini AWWs. We declared our decision of withdrawing the strike and forthcoming agitations and welcomed the raise.
We
waited for dead line of 15 days that we had given to the Government to fulfil
their promise of raising the honorarium. It was crossed on 19th. It
did not take any decision on the Cabinet meetings held on 12th and
18th, so we again started our district level agitation on 20th
and once again thousands of workers thronged the streets on 20th and
21st. We also announced a Long march in Mumbai from Byculla to Azad
Maidan on 25th and an indefinite Dharna from 25th till
the government takes the decision. The Budget Session of the Assembly was to
start on 24th and was to run for 5 days. The Cabinet met on 23rd
even though it was a Sunday and to our surprise the file of raising honorarium
was taken on the agenda and the Chief Minister announced the raise of Rs 950,
500 and 450 in the honorarium of Anganwadi Workers, Helpers and Mini AWW
respectively. This was a win win situation for us because we got both the benefits,
i.e. retirement benefits and a raise, though the amount was less than what we
expected in the first place and even lesser than what was promised by the
government itself. This achievement was made possible only through a long,
militant but peaceful and united struggle and ripe situation of the compulsion
on the part of the government to keep the vast number of field workers
satisfied at the time of elections. The government felt that position of the
Anganwadi workers was strong enough to tilt the voting pattern against the
ruling party if they are left with a dissatisfied mind. It felt their strength which
was already there all the while but was invisible for so many decades and now
became strongly visible during the struggle. It also felt that the masses also
were sympathetic towards the struggle and the demands of workers and could really
evaluate the contribution of Anganwadi workers in the upbringing of their
children when the workers stopped their work for 1 full month. Hundreds of Gram
Panchayts and many Zilha Parishads passed resolutions in favour of the striking
workers, stating that their demands were just and the government should fulfil them
and the Anganwadis be open immediately. They could measure their contribution
only when they stopped functioning. The government was taken aback by the
strength they showed and immense support they got from the masses and even from
the peoples’ representatives.
The
power generated in the struggle was historic and if redirected towards the
basic struggle of working class, it can give a boost to their basic demands
which are also their own. They have also come up as activists from the struggle
and can become good cadres, capable of organizing themselves and even other
working sections who are in their touch as beneficiaries of the scheme. It is a
challenge for our movement how to recruit them and we must now equip ourselves to
take it on.
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| Strike action in Mumbai |
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| Strike action in Mumbai |
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| Strike action in Pune |
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| Strike action in Vadgaon Maval |
