CBCI Labour Commission to hold consultation on unorganised labourers

A three day northern regional consultation will be held by the CBCI Labour Commission on Oct 29–31, at Pastoral Centre, Agra.

"Formation of labour movements for workers in the unorganized sector in India” is the theme of the conference.

Archbishop of Agra, Albert D'Souza and Jaipur Bishop Oswald Lewis will inaugurate the consultation and offer the introductory address.

“Of the estimated to be 315 million workforce in India, only about 26.7 million or 8.5% is in the organized sector and the rest that is, 91.5 % belongs to the unorganized sector,” said the executive secretary of the CBCI Commission for Labour Fr Jose Vattakuzhy.

Fr Jose, who is the main organiser of the consultation added, “From the part of Government there is a move to implement the social security schemes for unorganized workers.”

“On the 10th September a Bill has been introduced in the last session of Parliament. In such context, it would be a good for the non political labour organizations working at the grassroots level to evolve strategies to deal with the problems/issues of labourers in the unorganized sector effectively."

Some of the other important speakers on the event would be the National Chaplain of Christian Workers’ Movement Fr. Loius who will speak on “Church’s Response to Workers” and Dr. R.S. Tiwari from the Centre for Education and Communication, Delhi who will lecture on: “Workers in the Globalization Era” and “Labour Laws and Labour Rights.”

Topics on trafficking and migrants, Church's involvement for workers in the unorganised sector, government welfare schemes for workers and labour activities in general will also be discussed during the consultation.