Labour Pain

Despite being rebranded as ‘guest’ workers, close to 2.5 lakh migrant labourers have left the State for their hometowns in North and Eastern India, suffering immense hardships; now, it’s their employers who are going through the...

- C Shiva Kumar

When the city shut down and stayed indoors fearing the novel virus, migrant labourers were left alone in the streets. Some of them were not paid for the work they had done months before cities came to a grinding halt. Some of them were thrown out of their rented houses. Most of them had no money to either stay or leave. Left with no options, they started walking towards home, thousands of kilometres away, one step at a time. Finally, when governments arranged trains and allowed private buses, there was an exodus.

Data says 2.5 lakh migrant workers have left Tamil Nadu. Many of them, speaking with Express, shuddered at the thought of returning to the State for work. Now that industries and businesses have also started reopening, the city and its people are starting to feel the pinch -- realise the contributions of their invisible labour in keeping this city going. Many businesses are hopeful that a fresh set of hands may arrive when things return to normal, but little is being said about improving working and living conditions of these ‘guest’ workers.

The busy pocket of Guindy Industrial Estate, home to hundreds of small scale units, now looks desolate. The units have opened up, but there are hardly any labourers around. “Many units are now functioning with a mere 10 per cent workforce,” says KV Kanakambaram, president of a manufacturers association there. “There were around 3,000 migrant workers here and many have left.” The local workers are also unable to return to work, as public transportation is still not functional.