By Swastika Arumugam
Women workers are harassed on the factory floor on a regular basis by supervisors and factory managers. Harassment is the means through which unachievable production targets are obtained from our sisters in these sites.
As we celebrate 16 days activism against gender based violence we women in the middle class must remember we are complicit in the violence maintained on working class women in factories. We have the power to do something by recognising the dignity of our sisters across the class divide.
One of the most powerful ways women in the working classes have demanded harassment free work places is through the right to join unions. Over 90% of private sector workers are not unionized. Union busting remains the predominant reason why women don’t join unions.
We who sit in the HR, Admin, IT, Lawyers can change this for our sisters who swelter in the factory floors. Women workers do not seek our benevolence or good will to change their working condition. They have demanded their right to independent representation, right to unionise and the freedom to associate to represent their problems.
If your Company is denying the right of female workers to unionise, you can change this.
- Sisterhood solidarity
- For harassment free work place
- Respect the right to unionise