All India Shramik Samman Yatra demands Rs.5000 per month Samman Nidhi

Hundreds gather from across India on the occasion of the Culmination of All India Shramik Samman Yatra organised by Working People’s Coalition and demand Rs.5000 per month Samman Nidhi ,fair wages, decent working and comprehensive Social Protection for 55 crore Informal Workers.

All India Shramik Samman Yatra concluded with a public meeting at Jantar Mantar today after travelling in different states of India, from 24th January to 25th February. A memorandum to the Prime Minister’s office was submitted and copies were shared with the concerned ministers. The key demands of the presented in the memorandum include the following:

1.     Guarantee the right to decent and gainful work with dignity for all in rural and urban areas, acknowledging all categories of workers (such as domestic workers, gig and platform workers, home-based workers, construction workers, waste pickers, street vendors, head loaders, sex and bar workers, MGNREGA workers, agricultural workers, fisherfolks, etc.).Abolish the contract labour system in permanent work.

2.     Ensure occupational safety, health standards and protection from injury, accidents and trauma at the workplace.

3.     Provide a Shramik Samman Nidhi (at least Rs 5000 per month) to all informal workers, starting with workers registered on the e-shram portal.

4.     Extend ESI (Employees State Insurance) and EPF to all formal and informal workers

including independent self-employed workers and guarantee dignified social security as a right to all.

5.     Guarantee minimum wage linked to the real cost of living. Make Rs 26000 statutory monthly wage. Ensure that retired workers receive at least Rs 5000 per month. Create support for single women and transgender.

6.     Stop forced eviction/ displacement of vendors (including fish vendors) and residents and ensure proper rehabilitation. Ensure decent working conditions for vendors. Guarantee Housing for all workers, including affordable rental housing. Reserve land for workers housing in all industrial development zones.

7.     Ensure sustainable access and protection rights of natural resource-based working people over natural resources (water, fish, forests, land etc). Protect workers from climate-related disasters, extreme weather events, and destruction of natural

resources.

8.     Ensure strict measures against sexual harassment, Provide child care centres, ensure maternity benefits, equal pay for equal work, and safety for women on night shifts.

9.     Abolish caste and identity-based discrimination. Ensure the dignity of workers in all

kinds of labour eg. Sanitation workers, people in sex work, bars etc. and decriminalise such work.

10.  Legislate a special law for informal workers. Ensure collective bargaining rights and the rights of migrants on all government schemes and the portability of schemes

The All-India Shramik Samman Yatra has been an extraordinary journey, uniting workers from across the country in the fight for justice, security, and dignity. The Delhi chapter of WPC organized the mass meeting in front of Parliament, where hundreds of informal workers, including head loaders, waste pickers, street vendors, online platform workers and gig workers, factory workers, and others, were present. WPC leaders from across India, along with senior trade union leaders addressed the gathering and spoke on the demands form the various sectors of the working class which forms the foundation of the traditional and platform economy.

Mr. Rajendra Sharma spoke about the occupation safety of the workers and said’ India must be reckoned as number one in securing occupation safety for all informal workers and platform workers. Brother Varghese from Hyderabad spoke about the social protection of the workers and called for pension rights for all.Mr.Prakash Kumar called for Shramik Mandhan of Rs.5000 per month and call for 200 work days of employment security under MNREGA. Mr.HS Rawat called for completion of survey of all street vendors and inclusive justice in shop allocation in the vending zones. Shaikh Akbar Ali from Delhi and Krishna from Bangalore called for urgent attention to integrate waste pickers in waste management and their formal engagement in Clean India. The need for providing all the identity and dignity as workers was highlighted by all the representatives. Other speakers included Mr.Shakeelur Rasool from An Mr. Dharmendra Kumar summed up the public meeting with a call upon the government for attending to the cause of informal workers who constitute 90 per cent of the workforce of India.

The Working People’s Coalition (WPC) is an independent, non-party network of diverse organizations supporting the cause of informal labour across India. With active chapters in 14 states and growing, WPC is committed to organizing, developing policy suggestions, mobilising legal and mediation support, and creating lasting change for India’s workers.