Why is it that children find themselves in working in activities as dangerous as brick kilns and quarries?
In these sectors, the wages depend on the individual production rate of each worker. In the brick kilns, for example, the wage depends on the number of bricks made. That’s why adult workers take all their family with them to help, including their youngest children. It’s a common phenomenon in India. How did you embark on the fight against this exploitation? Our first step is to organise more unions in these sectors. But if the first thing we say to the workers is that their children should stop working, they reply that their family income would fall, and refuse to join. So we had to use another strategy. After having convinced the workers to join the union, we started collective bargaining with the brick kiln owners, negotiating on a whole range of matters, including the key issue of wages. We managed to get wage increases of 35% on average, and were then able to get the children out of work and into school. This schooling gives the parents a sense of pride; it gives them hope. We have
Related Questions
- What protection will there be for an approved childcarer working in the parents home if that home is dangerous to either the children or the childcarer?
- Why is it that children find themselves in working in activities as dangerous as brick kilns and quarries?
- Isn’t carpet weaving less dangerous than working with machinery or chemicals as some children do?
