labourers at construction sited

7/29/2019 Labourers at Construction Sited

1/17

Labour LawConstruction Site survey

Done: Delawar Barekzai

DM's college Goa University

6/9/2008


2/17

Labour Law SY BBA, DMs college 08-09 2

Table of contents

S# TopicPage

no

1Introduction 5

2

Interview with contract labourers 6--103

Labourers Suggestions 10

4Interview with Contractor and his Suggestions 10--11

5Interview with CID officer and his suggestions 11

6Comparison of Organized sector and non organized sector 11--13

7Conclusion and our findings 13

8Group members' observations/viewpoints 14

* Delawar Barekzai's view points 14

* Nikita Dhempo's view points 14

* Chaturti Shirodkar view points 14--15

* Apurva Rege's view points 15

* Tania Shirokar view points 16

* Utkarsh Naik 16


3/17


A project report submitted on

(construction division) Mapusa--Goa, in the partial fulfillment of the

requirement of subject Labour Law (Second year of Faculty of Bachelor of

Business Administration) of Dnyanprassarak Mandals College of Arts,

Science, Commerce & Management Studies, Assagao, Bardez, Goa, India.


4/17


In this study except those labourers who were busy at work and were

not ready for interview all other labourers, contractor, and work

supervisor were cooperative with us in providing information which was

required for the study. There were no restriction and limitation at all to

prevent gathering information and prepare our project report.


5/17


Acknowledgment

I Delawar Barekzai, Studying Bachelor of Business administration in DMs college affiliated

to Goa University, Goa, India. My successful completion of labour law assignment gave me

an immense corporate exposure. In this research oriented study all ISANI &VIRANI

PVT.LTD labourers, contractor and work supervisor assisted and supported me. I appreciate

their perpetuate cooperation and I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to them. I would

like to thank all labourers for their cooperation in providing the information that was required

for the study. I would like to thank Mr. Mayur M. Sawant for arranging the construction site

for me and I would also like to thank Mrs. Isha Sawant our Labour Law lecturer for teaching

this subject and her guidance. During my research I have earned lots of information regarding

the labourers life condition, their rights, their income, and their position in the society which

is completely different from those employees who are working in organized sector. At the

end I would like to thank all those who assisted me in this study and preparation of the final

report.


6/17


The aim of this study was to conduct a survey to find out the application of labour law

in real life especially when the contract labourer, their working condition, their income

(wages, bonus, remunerationetc), their rights, their position in the society...etc are

concern and whether they are aware of labour Law or not. It is a research oriented

study and its report is to provide an understanding of the labour law in current scenario

and its application in real life for its reader.

Primary and Secondary data are used for information gathering primary data has

collected through interviews with the labourers, contractor and work supervisor of

ISANI &VIRANI PVT.LTD and a formal discussion with the CID officer Donapaula,

panjim, Goa. Secondary data has been taken from Newspapers Times of India Goa

edition, Nahvind Time and TV channels.

The assignment report is consisted of four major sections. The section one describes the

introduction of the report, back ground, purpose, scope the methodology and scheme of

the report. The second section of the report includes the questionnaire and labourers

responses, labour law related concepts applications, and labours suggestions.

The third section of report purely polices actions regarding the cases which are filed

against the contactor and their suggestion to contract labourers and people.

The final section of report covers, the comparison of Non-organized sector with

organized sector, conclusion and recommendation for Non-organized sector.

ISANI & VIRANI Hotels PVT.LTD


7/17


This company established in the year 2005 and started with the hotels and resorts in Goa,

Karwar, Mangalore, and Maharashtra. In the year 2006 they started construction activities

and expanded to other cities of the country as well. In Goa it has one main branch which is

located in Mapusa and other branches are located in Margao, Ponda, and Bicholem. Every

branch has their own contractor and while taking a construction projects all the constructingresources are provided to the contractor. Inspite of that the labourers responsibility is belongs

to the contractor and work supervisor, the branch also have a monitor and overtime they

come and monitoring the work and ask the labourers if they have any problem and

suggestions regarding their working condition, constructing resourcesetc. As it was a short

discussion with the branch manager of the ISANI & VIRANI Hotels PVT.LTD Mapusa, we

would not mention more about the background and history of this site. During this study we

have been interviewed 10 labourers ( six women, and 4 men) and their contractor and work

supervisor. The interviewed labourers list is as beneath:

S# Name Gender Age Marital status No yearsworking

Type of work Originality

1Uma Koli Male 25 Single 15 Carpentry Karnataka

2

Balchandran Male 22 Single 5 Fitting UP

3

Nagesh Male 35 Married 20 Digging Karnataka

4 Annopama

Aadanam Male 33 Married 18 Carrying stone Karnataka

5

Shri Mohan Female 40 Married 21 Carpentry UP

6

Rama Devi Female 58 Married 25 Centering steel Maharashtra

7

Janatabi Female 28 Married 15 Carpentry Karnataka

8

Kushenbi Female 30 Married 18 Brick carrier Karnataka

9

Coseeshare loli Female 29 Married 15 Carpentry UP

10

Wataarana Female 33 Married 16 Brick carrier UP

After their identification we asked the following questions;


8/17


Working hours per day

7-8 hours

8-9 hours

9-10 hours

Family size

2-3 person

3-5 person

5-7 person

62%25%

13%

Children involvement at work

No Child is

involved

Partly

involved

fully

involved

20%

20%50%

10%

Miminum Wages

75-100

Rupees

100-150

Rupees

150-200

Rupees

1. How many hours you work per day?Answer: Out of ten labourers 3 of them were

working from 9:00am to 4:30pm, 5 of them

were working from 8:00am to 6:00pm and two

of them were working from 8:00am to 7:00pm.

2. What are your monthly or weekly holidays?Answer: Sundays are their holiday during every week which is declared, other holidays

are festivals (such as Diwali, Ganesh etc). And they are paid differently, and if they are

sick they also have leave for 3 days, and they are paid for those days as well.

3. What is your family size?Answer: Two of them said that they are only

two (their mom and themselves), six of them

said that their family size is 3-5 and 2 of them

said that their family size is 5-7 persons (out

of these six some of them have 4 children,

and some of them have 5 children both girls

and boys) while among the female labourers

two of them were pregnant.

4. Are your children involved in work?Answer: Out of those labourers who were

married 5 of them said that their children are

small and not able to work therefore they are

not involved, 2 of them said our children are

partly involved and of them said I have one

daughter and one son with the age of 11 and

both of them are involved.

5. What is the minimum wages you get?


9/17


55%36%

9%

How people treat labourers

Not good

Good

Mutual Respect

Answer: Out of ten labourers 2 of them said 90 Rupees per day, 2 of them said 130 Rupees per

day, 5 of them said 200 Rupees per day, and 1 of them get 250 Rupees per day. This is paid based

on the kind of work they do and this is paid daily, weekly, and monthly (As per the contract and

request of the labourer). But infact it is negotiable.

6. How much wages you are entitled and how much you get?Answer:They dont know how much is the actual wages and how much they are paid.

They are not aware that how much wages per day are prescribed by the government but

they said as per the market rate they expect the wages. Sometimes they take Rupees 1000

in advance and the balance pay is paid at the end of the week.

7. How is the behavior of the contractor and work supervisor with you, is there anyimbalance or any harassment?

Answer: There is no harassment at all and the contractor threat them friendly, work

supervisor supervise their work and incase of negligence of a labourer first of all

supervisor point out their mistakes and will tell them during work or at the end of the day

if a labourer continues the same for next day he will be fired. But as we observed

psychologically they were not happy.

8. How people treat you?Answer: Some of them said people

treat us very well; they speak with

them with respect. Some of them

said as they cannot speak Konkani

language some people dont like

them and they behave with them

very badly. Some of them said we

dont bother who we are and why

we are here, we are separate and

they are separate and how much they are concern about ours that much we respect.

9. Are you aware of Law?Answer: Majority of them are illiterate, they are not aware of their rights and they are not

aware of any law or regulations.


10/17


89%

11%0%

0%

Labourers' welfare facilities

Not satisfied

SatisfiedFully satisfied

30%

70%

On time payment

Wages are

paid on time

Wages are not

paid on time

10.Grievances?Answer: No grievances, everything is fine, the only problem is whatever is earned by one

person is not sufficient for 6 people in the family. Besides as far as the health of the

labourer is concern in case of sickness they dont have sufficient money for the treatment.

11.What welfare facilities you are provided? If you are provided theses facilities areyou satisfied with that?

Answer: As for welfare facilities are concern only sufficient supply of wholesome

drinking water is provided. There are no

latrines and urinals or any other washing

facilities but some of them were satisfied but

not fully satisfied as one lady told us that

they are provided fuel and wood as well but

not sufficient and expect the contractor to be

more concern about these issues.

12.In case of any unexpected injury are you provided with the firs-aid facilities?Answer: In case of a small injury there is first aid kit in the workplace itself and every

labourer can use it. In case of a big injury contractor take them to hospital and the doctor

fair and other expenses are paid by the contractor.

13.Do you get your wages on time or the contractor postpones for some time?Answer: Out of ten labourers 5 of them

said it is paid on time, 3 of them said it is

postponed for some times, and two of

them said it is depend on the situation

when we expect to be paid. But some of

them take some amount of money in

advance and balance will be paid at the

end of the week.

14.Is there any offence in case of any contravention?Answer: Only shouting from contractor no payment of money by labourer. Butsometimes even fired by contractor or by principle employer.


11/17


60%

40%

Remuneration

They are

paid

They are not

paid

60%

40%

Discrimination

Yes

No

15.Does the contractor pay you remuneration?Answer: Some of them said Rupees 1000

is paid during Diwali festival and some of

them said it is not paid to them. But this is

depending on the situation and contractor

decides how much should give to which

labourer.

16.Do you think that contractor discriminate in the form of place, language,genderetc while employing the labourers?

Answer: Out of ten four labourers said

there is no discrimination and 6 of them

said there is discrimination in the form of

gender where women are paid less than

men. Besides the contractor is not concern

about women because sometimes they

have health problem and cannot afford

with heavy works.

17.Does the contractor deduct any amount of money in case of your absence fromduty, in case of damages or lossetc?

Answer: Three of them said yes if we not attending the work wages are deducted, others

said it is conventional and based on the contract. But sometimes they inform the

contractor in case of a serious sickness or other problem. That time the contractor

considers them present but if the payment is on daily base then the contractor will not pay

for that consider day.

18.How the police treat you if you have any case against your contractor?Answer: They said till this time we didnt approach police for anything against our

contractor but we are given cards which we record our working days and if the contractor

dont pay for a single day, we can complain to police.


12/17


19.If a person dies or hardly injures in the workplace and loss an organ of his body,does the contractor pay any compensation to the concern, if not who else is

responsible?

Answer: They said yes compensation is paid but they didnt know about the exact

amount of that and said that it is depend on the injury or loss but nothing has been

happened yet.

20.What bonuses are paid by the contractor?Answer: Out of ten employees 4 of them said they are paid 200 Rupees during Diwali

festival, 2 of them said the contractor distributed sweets and cloths, and the remaining

labourers denied they are paid nothing.

21.Labourers suggestion:As the cost of food increases day by day majority of them were complaining that the wages

paid to them are not sufficient and they ask the government and construction companies to do

the needful regarding the issue. Besides provide them better welfare facilities and food at

workplace itself, while some of them said that they bring their own food Tiffin to the

workplace. They wanted free education for their children and ask the government to provide

them free education. Out of the ladies interviewed only one said that her two children go to

school. She said that it is free of cost and there is nobody to look after them at home. Only

because of this she sends them to school. Most of them they said that there is no school of

Hindi language nearby and they dont know Konkani and Marathi which is thought in the

local primary schools and therefore they dont want to send their children to school and theyask the government to pay attention to this . At the end of the interview they were very

thankful of us that we visit them and asked them about their life and their working condition.

Besides we distributed chocolates and sweets to their children and thanked them that they

allocated their precious working time for us to discuss.

Contractor views regarding contract labours life and working condition:

As we discussed these issues with Mr. Galgali the licensed contractor of this site, he said that

it is very difficult to run and financially support a family with these minimum wages but as

we see the business growth nowadays is also slow and the construction company are notready to provide high wages and even they want to control current wages as well. As far as

welfare and health of contract labour is concern they are two first-aid kits in the workplace,

latrine is not constructed because of the improper water supply but they can use other local

latrines and toilets because this site is close to Mapusa market they dont need canteen as well

because they can take food or other items from nearby shops. The involvement of children is

not as per the request of the contractor but it is as per the request of labours so they can earn a

little more, but he said we never recommend them for heavy work and always tell the labours

to not allowed children for dangerous works, because he declared to them that if anything

happened contractor is not responsible. The principle employer Manager of Mapusa

branch said that we discuss each every issue and we cooperate together and as soon as


13/17


possible we solve the problem of contract labours. Principle employer said we try to inform

them about the labour law and make them aware of their rights and principles of employment

but it takes time, and the labours leave over a period of time therefore sometime

inconsistencies happens. The muster roll is applicable and they maintain register and other

records such as the hours of work, nature of duty, wages, deductions, overtime, fines,advance payment, and also wages slips and such other information which is prescribed.

Contractor also said that they want to motivate labours by providing them remuneration and

bonuses and also would like to provide them better health and welfare facilities.

CID officer

In a short discussion with CID officer crime department in Dunapuala, panjim, Gao we found

that the police are cooperative with contract labourers and they said that sometimes even for a

small problem the contract labourers approach police and ask them to take an action, and

when they go to the area and ask the contractor they find that it is a misunderstandingbetween contractor and contract labourers and not worth of that the police take an action

against them. Officer said, as for as the labour market is down and employment opportunities

are less, labours nowadays are agree for even less wages but sometimes they are not paid the

actual wages which they are entitled and these cases are increasing day by day. Besides

sexual harassment cases are increased compare to last two or three years. He didnt mention

about the exact number of the cases which are filed during 2007-2008 but he said that all

companies whether organized sector or non-organized sector should observed and maintain

the law and regulations, otherwise the consequences of these inadequacies and

inconsistencies have bad impact in the future of the economy and other factors of the country.

Comparison of Non-organized sector with organized sector:

Organized sector is the sector which operates through institutions which feed figures into

official statistics. This includes firms organized as companies, payments made via the

banking system, incomes reported to the tax authorities, sales reported to the VAT

authorities, and employment reported to the National Insurance authorities. These constitute

the vast majority of total economic activity in advanced economies. In India, a major chunk

of labor force is employed in the unorganized sector. The unorganized / informal employment

consists of causal and contributing family workers; self employed persons in un-organizedsector and private households; and other employed in organized and unorganized enterprises

that are not eligible either for paid, sick or annual leave or for any social security benefits

given by the employer.

In order to compare non-organized sector with organized sector, and see the working

condition of a labour in non-organized sector and an employee in organized sector we would

like to mention as beneath;

1. Recruitment job specification: As for as organized sector is concern employeesare recruited based on interview and each and every employee are specified a joband they report to their immediate boss overtime, while in non-organized sector


14/17


labours are employed simply and sometimes even their jobs are not specified and

there is no reporting.

2. Working condition: employees in organized sector are provided good workingcondition (Separate office room, Telephone, computer, stationary, latrine and

urinal facilities, wholesome drinking water, A/c etc), while labours in non-

organized sector especially this site which we have visited only drinking water

and a rest room is provided.

3. Salary & Wages: As for as organized sector is concern they usually pay monthlysalary to their employees or sometime both salary and commission and salaries are

quite enough to finance themselves and their family except some employees

working in government offices but nowadays government salaries are also

increasing, while in non-organized sector daily base wages are paid daily base or

sometimes they are paid weekly but it is not sufficient to finance a family. In

organized sector the employees compensation, remuneration and bonuses are

paid based on his performance measures and sometimes it comes more than

his/her salary but in non-organized sector only some amount of money are paid

during festivals which will not exceed 1000Rupees.

4. Insurance facilities: There is difference of insurance for employees in organizedsector and labours in non-organized sector. In organized sector employees

insurance money are paid by the company itself or sometime if he/she insured

him/her self will be paying by themselves but nowadays companies take the

responsibility of their employees insurance as well. But in non-organized sectorthe insurance premiums and other monthly payment are paid by the labour only in

the form of contribution. While in some construction sites even there is no ESI.

5. Transport facilities: In organized sector the employees are provided transport topick up employees from home and drop them back if not, the transport fare is

provided to them and calculate it with their monthly salary. But in non-organized

sector there is no transport and or travel facilities for the labours

6. Leave with pay: Employees in organized sector have different leaves like, annualleave, sick leave, paternity leave, maternity leaveetc, while in non -organizedsector labours have few days leave in Diwali festival, and other leaves are in

negotiation and there is no annual leave especially when we visit this construction

site labours were complaining from consequent work and low wages.

7. Management: In organized the most important and main thing is management ofthe employees, teams, and cross functions but in non-organized sector each and

every labour is individually employed for a job and no contribution in work.

8. Scope for promotion: As for as the organized sector is concern employees aregiven promotion over a period of time based on his/her performance but in non-

organized sector no promotion is given to the labourer. Beside in organized sector


15/17


the salary of the employee will increase with his promotion while in non-

organized sector labourer wages remain the same.

9. Training & development: In organized sector employees are given on job or outof job training over a period of time to improve the performance of the employee

but in non-organized sector there is no training and development scope for

labourers.

At the end we can say that in organized sector the employees are often permanent and

in non-organized sector labourers are often temporary.

After conducting the survey and construction site analysis we would like to conclude our

report;

ISANI & VIRANI Hotels PVT.LTD (construction division) is one of the major construction

companies which provide better constructing resources and have a steady contact with

different contractors all over Goa. Labours working condition is good comparing to other

construction companys but as per the labour law and regulations there are still

inconsistencies.

As far as contract labour Act 1970 is concern the contractor and principle employer exploit

labourers rather than giving them their proper rights, labourers are not provided proper

welfare facilities and benefits therefore lost of disputes are among contractor and principle

employer with labourers, the same in the case ofequal remuneration Act, the remunerationsare not provided equally and there is often empathy and sympathy in the case of employing

women and men. As far as payment of wages Act is concern some time the contractor

postpone the payment, beside that there is no nominated representative duly authorized by

principle employer to be present at the time of distribution of wages by contractor to

labourers, also labourers dont get actual wages they are entitled with, but it is based on the

hard work they do. In the case ofchild labour Actthe contractor doesnt have a register to

maintain the record of the children employed or permitted to work. Government doesnt pay

proper attention to the education of their children and they always complain for the same. As

far as Employees State insurance Act is concern there is no such scheme for the same

besides that labours dont know about it the contractor said these labours are not permanent

and even some of them are daily base therefore it is difficult to consider ESI for them

temporarily. As for as the minimum wages Act is concern labours are often paid as per the

market rate but when we interviewed the labours they told us that they are not aware of how

much minimum wages are prescribed by the government, also they said these wages are in

negotiation and the type of work the labours do. As far as the Industrial disputes Act is

concern if any issue arises first of all they try to solve and comprise upon that issue, if not

usually contract labours approach police and complain against contractor or principle

employer. Police often behave very empathetic with contract labours especially women are

concern and always suggest them to inform police in case of harassment, insecurity, or lack

of righteousness.


16/17


1. Delawar Barekzai: After conducting the survey by our group I come to know that thereasons for the ineffective implementation of labour law is the lack of adequate

enforcement machinery, lack of political will, deliberate attempt of employers to floutthe legal provisions and so on.

As far as child labour is concern the main reason is the lack of consciousness within

the minds of parents themselves who obtain certificates from medical practitioners

inflating the age of their children to enable them to work therefore they are deprived

from education and their future become horrible, also the number of labour inspector

is quite low to inspect the appropriate age of the child whether the eligible for work or

not. Benefits and other rights are not properly observed and due to inadequacy of all

these things labours are neglected. Therefore I suggest the government and all those

companies or organizations especially non-organized sector, to pay attention to theseissues, because non-organized sector and these people who work labours play an

effective role in the economy of the country, and if they are poor, several problems

will arise such as food crisis, and also the crime rate will increase.

2. Nikita Dhempo: Usually when we join any work or any job we are aware about thename of the organization for which we are working and we are entitled with, but these

labours only knew what kind of work they do, and they dont have any idea about the

organization or company they join and they are not aware of any rules and

regulations. Whether it is government or private organization people employed waits

for an opportunity of declaration of holiday, but these poor people feel that there

should not be any kind of festival or any celebration. They are not provided any food

and they dont get any payment if they are not on duty. Even during the sickness they

have to work, also they know that the job market is very low if they dont work and

not present at job they will be at loss. They dont work for future and their purpose is

not to save but they work for present (food, clothing, and place).

3. Chaturti Shirodkar: We as a group did the project on the laborers. This projecthelped us knowing the problems faced by the laborers and their relations with

contractors, police, and local people. With this project we also came to know about

their real practical world and with this we can compare it with what we learnt during

our labor law session. These laborers really dont know about the rules and

regulations made by the Goan Government for them and therefore they cannot take its

benefit. They dont know about the different facilities offered for them by the

government.

When they were interviewed by us I came to know that they are really unaware of the

facilities, schemes, rules, regulations and labor law. The ladies specially when

interviewed refused to answer correctly whatever was asked to them. In one case one

son of the lady did not allowed her to answer anything and told that she is very tiredand hence he will answer whatever4 to be answered. Some of the ladies were not


17/17


aware of the wages which are being paid to them as the contractor pays it directly to

their husbands.

Most of the ladies said that they are paid less compared to the men in spite of working

equally or for equal work. They were paid almost double compared to women. None

of the lady was ready to agree that they are being harassed at the workplace either by

the contractor or by the others. There were no crashes provided for their children but

the ladies had to keep them at home or have to make some arrangement for them. Not

a single lady knew that there is some maternity law and they get some benefit out of

that. They said their contractor never talked about this to them anytime nor their

husbands know about this. One lady Uma told me about one death which was

occurred at the workplace. One lady had fallen from the top and died. She had one

daughter. The police came and looked after the matter. The contractor paid some

thousands of money to her husband and said that he will look after her daughter, but

her husband refused.

These laborers have weekly holiday on Sundays and on the festivals. If they need

holiday then they have to take prior permission from the contractor. During the

holidays and their absence they are not paid as their wages are counted on daily bases.

From all the interviews conducted and information gathered I came to know that the

laborers are not aware of any labor laws which are beneficial for them. Even they

dont want to know as they think that their contractor is correct and pay as per their

work although I found that there is no other remuneration or bonuses paid to them.

They dont know any laws and live a very different life from the organized sector.

labourers at construction sited

Documents