CHENNAI: They live in the shadows, literally. The shops they work in are usually dark and dingy. The numerous stickers (used to seal bottles) on the walls turn them into dirty, littered structures. The iron bars make them look like prison cells. Cacophony and unprovoked brawls are the constant company of the workers.
A casual visit to a TASMAC shop is enough to make one realise how horrible the working conditions are at these shops. In some places, sometimes the workers are even considered an outcast. Their measly salary only amplifies their sordid tale. Economically too they are on the fringes, drawing pittance from the government. This despite sale of liquor in Tamil Nadu contributing almost 20 percent of the State’s tax revenue. This despite most of the outlets in the state selling liquors more than basic MRP.
The TASMAC shops in Tamil Nadu were opened in 2003 under section 17-C (1-B) (a) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act. The revenue from the TASMAC shops have increased eight times in the last 13 years but the life of the workers, who are on contract, have not changed.
The recruits
The contract workers are recruited in three categories — supervisor, salesman and assistant salesman. Until two months ago, the salary of a supervisor was Rs 7,500, a salesman Rs 5,600 and that of an assistant salesman Rs 4,200. In the past, the workers were also given incentives which were different for each person. The incentives vary — certain percentage is given to employees out of the monthly income.
The ones working in rural areas get lower pay than those in urban areas. In order to avoid this difference, the incentives were cut down completely and it was evenly distributed to every worker. Thus the salary was revised to Rs 9,500, Rs 7,500 and Rs 6,500 for a supervisor, a salesman and an assistant salesman respectively.
According to the policy note 2017-2018, of the Home, Prohibition and Excise department: “7,203 Shop Supervisors, 15,744 Salesmen and 3,732 Assistant Salesmen are working in the Retail Vending shops on contract/consolidated pay basis.” The workers who initially attended the recruitment were appointed for the government job but were placed under contract, claim the workers.
Nowhere to go
TASMAC does not provide any of the usual government allowances to the workers but calls it a ‘government job’. Their long-standing request to shift them to other vacant government jobs according to their educational qualification has fallen on deaf ears.
“There are many efficient and well-educated members working in the bar. I remember one Prasad, who had a doctorate degree and worked in a TASMAC shop as a supervisor for more than five years,” said Balaguru from Salem. The workers also face other problems. Liquor bottles brought in from the company that owns the tender and workers who unload the boxes claim extra money. Bottles are usually transported in small trucks, and when they break, the company never pays compensation, claim the workers. The other breakage comes when it rains, where the walls get wet and soak the cardboard boxes, leading to bottles falling down.
“The workers of the TASMAC are burdened with extra expenses which they find very difficult to afford. From bulbs and locks to electricity and broken bottles, the workers have to take care of them all,” says Dhanasekaran, general secretary of the AITUC-affiliated TN TASMAC Employees’ Union (TNTEU). He adds, “The Kerala government pays 0.01 per cent of the monthly revenue of government-run liquor shops as compensation for the shops. The workers here also do not get their government allowances for basic maintenance. This in turn leads them to charge Rs 10 or Rs 15 extra from the customers, who pick up fights with workers.”
“When I was in Vellore, a thief jumped in opening the roof and fell on a collection of boxes, hurting himself and causing a loss of Rs 5 lakh. The compensation came to me after a prolonged fight through the union,” said Selvam M, member of TNTEU. “On August 10, a supervisor named Karunanithi from Cuddalore was attacked with a knife in the head and hand on his way back home and robbed of Rs 3.5 lakh,” said a union member. With their jobs on the line, workers in the outlets borrow money and settle them.
A senior Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited official adds: “It is supposed to be an eight-hour shift, but they work more, from 11 in the morning to 12 in the night.”
Atrocities and assaults
“The bar owners get liquor for government prices from TASMAC and sell them for more,” says Selvam. “The bar owners threaten the workers to close the shop early so they could sell during after-hours. They increase the price by Rs 50 per bottle and the people also do not protest.”
There have been many incidents of supervisors of TASMAC shops being beaten or transferred for protesting against the bar owners, he said.
Most of the shops in rural interior places do not have adequate security for the workers and the cash. “There have been incidents of workers who have been beaten up and money stolen from them,” says a former salesman. “The officials ask us to stay in the shops during the night so that we are safe. An incident in Vellore paints a sad picture — a salesman was burnt alive as he was asleep in the store when protesters set fire to the liquor shop.”
“The workers in the TASMAC along with selling have to take care of other things too. They have to sell the bottles and the cardboard boxes that come with them and maintain records. The authorities who take indents do not pay the required amount and the one who has taken the contract has to pay Rs 50/box but he will pay only around Rs 30 and the rest has to be settled by the workers,” says Periyasami N, president of TNTEU. A worker remembers his friend committing suicide. “He was not able to pay back the money.”
In a similar incident, a person from Dindugal named Bala Murugan was allegedly assaulted by a group who threw chilli powder and stabbed him in the shoulder. “Liquor shops are always considered a negative sign,” says Manirathnam, an assistant salesman. “Once, when we did not heed to a local politician’s demand for money, he instigated the local women to protest against the shop and closed it. But soon, it was reopened when the supervisor was transferred.”
“Every government wants the money from liquor shops but do not want liquor shops,” says Muthukumar of TNTEU. “Customers who come here do not know the pressure we go through. We have to bribe local goons, politicians and police.”
Periyasami sums it up: “For the government, TASMAC workers are like duck that lays golden egg. They want the egg, not the duck.”
Fewer benefits
When a government employee dies during service, his family gets compensation and a member of his family gets a government job. But when Baskaran S, a salesman died during a road accident, his family got a compensation of Rs 6 lakh but his wife wasn’t given a job. He left behind three girl children. A total of 12% is deducted from workers’ salary for ESI, PF and other claims.
Commenting on medical claims, Muthuraman, a supervisor tells Express that even with medical insurance, they are demanded to go to only specific private hospitals. They have set different hospitals for different health issues and the workers instead go to any hospital that is easily accessible and are renumerated only 70% of the cost.
Demands and alternatives
In the plea to regularise their service and to appoint them in the vacant government services, the workers have staged protests across the state, but they have gone in vain. Some workers have left their jobs but many have stayed with hope they will be paid a ‘government salary’. The government has allocated jobs in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and ration shops under ‘The Registrar Cooperative Societies’.
“In which case their past experience would not count and the workers will have to start from the beginning. The first year will be probationary and salary would start from Rs 4,500. Only later, it would be increased to Rs 10,000,” says Periyasami.
But still, as many as 1,200 workers have signed up because they are scared. “I cannot work in a liquor shop when my daughter is getting married. I have to compromise, but there is no guarantee of life in TASMAC shops as many workers have died due to pressure and heart attacks,” says Murugavel from Thanjavur.
According to sources, when workers demanded permanent jobs, the government responded that ‘they have promised complete prohibition and giving them permanent jobs might amount to breaking that promise.’ Dhanasekaran avers: “We are not against prohibition, we are only seeking transfers to vacant jobs.”
A senior Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited official, meanwhile, points out, “The workers fall under contract employees policy which cannot be questioned or changed to provide permanent jobs.”
DeMon pressure
Registration of bars that do not earn income or those that do not renew their contract should be cancelled. But in many cases, aided by political parties, owners run bars without registrations and auctions aren’t conducted since everyone plays a role in the illegality, allege workers.
“During demonetisation, a lot of politicians and officials used TASMAC for changing their money illegally. Blaming the workers alone is not right,” says Manikandan from Trichy district. “We were threatened to lend them new notes and deposit the old ones in bank,” says another salesman. But an official refutes the allegations, saying malpractice is never tolerated.
The TASMAC workers, who number more than 26,600, are still looking forward to the sunshine.
