KOCHI: The death of a worker in the steam boiler blast at an eatery in Kochi has once again brought to fore the rising workplace accidents involving migrant workers in Kerala.
According to Perumbavoor-based Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), two migrant workers die everyday in Kerala, half of them due to accidents at the workplace. And barring a few, most do not get any compensation.
“Our calculations reveal that around 690-700 migrant workers die in Kerala every year. This puts the number of deaths per day at two in Kerala. Of this, one person dies in workplace-related accidents,” said Benoy Peter, executive director, CMID. He said migrant workers are employed in jobs that others generally avoid. “We term it 3D jobs – dirty, demeaning and dangerous. These are the jobs that the migrant workers are employed in. So, they will be exposed to high risks such as chemicals, excessive heat, hazardous materials and the like. Further, they are forced to work without sufficient protective gear,” said Peter.
According to CMID, almost none get any compensation following accidents. “If it’s a workplace death, they should get compensation as per the Workplace Compensation Act. The average age of migrant workers who lose their lives in such incidents is just 30. Which means they are eligible to receive compensation up to Rs 25 lakh. The fact of the matter is that they are not able to get even a death certificate from local authorities,” said Peter.
Almost all migrant workers who come to Kerala for work are from India’s rural hinterlands. And most of them have no educational qualifications, while their relatives can’t imagine proceeding with cases and appeals for compensation. In this scenario, both the employers and the state have to take up the collective responsibility to provide adequate compensation to the family of the deceased workers.
“The migrant workers are not part of a trade union, neither are they part of a vote bank. Kerala is the first state in India that brought a social security scheme for migrant workers. However, they are not getting its benefit. They are also denied any welfare package from the state government in the event of death or accident at the workplace,” Peter said.
He said trade unions should take migrant workers into their fold. “Not as migrant workers trade unions but as members of mainstream trade unions,” he said, pointing out that Kerala has the biggest social capital among trade unions. “The ideal solution to ease their plight is to get the migrant workers enrolled into mainstream trade unions. One out of four workers in our state is a migrant worker,” he said.