Attention:
General Secretary, WFTU secretariat@wftucentral.org
Women’s Committee women@wftucentral.org
Asia Pacific Regional Office wftuasiapacific@gmail.com; c.srikumaraidef@gmail.com
Subject:
Complaint against CITU and AITUC (Kerala, India) for their sexist remarks and non-cooperation with
KAHWA women workers in violation of WFTU Constitution
Reference (WFTU Constitution):
Dear Colleagues
I am writing to you about the dire situation in Kerala with reference to the strike of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers’ Association for minimum wages and a five-lakh one-time retirement benefits, which has been continuing since the past two months.
Continue reading Open Letter to the Members of the Indian Association of Women’s StudiesThere is a huge difference between democratic struggles outside Kerala, and those which unfold inside the state at the moment. While elsewhere they strive to make democracy integral to the system, in Kerala we are struggling desperately to keep alive, at least, the traces of something that we had, a fairly democratised society and a tolerably responsive state.
Continue reading No French Revolution Lurking Ahead, Comrade Baby![Recirculating]
We write to you out of serious concern about the precarity of the lives of the Kerala ASHA workers on strike and the hostility shown to them by the elected government of Kerala. The ASHA workers’ strike has entered its 50th day and the twelfth day of their indefinite hunger strike. Hundreds of workers are outside the Secretariat building striking for the demands to be heard by the left-led State government, braving the heat stress, sporadic thundershowers, and the humiliation from the government and mainstream party workers.
They have been ridiculed and accused of being puppets of the “fascist, fundamentalist” right-wing trying to jeopardize the elections in 2026. Their backing from SUCI and AIDSO has provoked mainstream left politicians and intellectuals even further, accusing them of being too radical to understand the need to be united at this time. Yet the CPM and its allied organizations, unions have declared unconditional support to ASHA and Anganwadi workers in other states, declaring a nation-wide strike on 20 May.
We reject this apathy and accusations against the workers on strike. We also request that you sign-on to this petition to be submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office as a testament to the broader support that the workers have from the public and civil society in Kerala and across the country.
Please sign the petition for the workers demands to be accepted by the Kerala State Government and circulate this in your networks.
To
Shri Pinarayi Vijayan
Honourable Chief Minister
State of Kerala
Sir
Subj: Kerala Asha workers struggle for justice
I am writing to appeal to your sense of justice and support for workers’ rights especially with regard to the Kerala Asha workers struggle for timely payments, commensurate incentives and remuneration on par with other development workers.
The participation, unstinting labour and commitment of women has been central to several development initiatives in the country, including Kerala. The sad and ironic part is that these women workers are labelled as volunteers and their labour not given its due recognition, respect and remuneration commensurate with the ever-expanding portfolio of responsibilities they shoulder. To remind ourselves, during the Covid pandemic Asha workers across the country bravely, and at considerable personal risk, reached out support to their communities.
Many of us look to Kerala to take the lead to determine and protect the rights of all workers even those labelled as “volunteer workers”. And I am sure Sir, your government is all too aware that “volunteer” is a misnomer, as Ashas are doing full time work.
Once again, I appeal to you and your government to take a positive to meet the demands of the Asha workers.
Kameshwari Jandhyala
Hyderabad, Telangana
As the ASHA workers’ resolve continues to remain unbroken in the third week of their struggle, the CITU leadership in general and the CPM cyber spokesmen in particular are losing their cool completely. S Mini is a familiar figure to people in Thiruvananthapuram in the many battles for justice that we have witnesses over the past twenty years . She is among the few women in Kerala who have embraced a full public life without desire for power, status, or visibility. The organisation she is part of, the SUCI, has long suffered ridicule. The big bully of left politics in Kerala, the CPM, has long tried to pick on them. Like all bullies, the latter keeps talking of how small they are.
Continue reading Who’s Lying? Condemn the Brazen Attack on S Mini: AltheaThe Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN) extends it unwavering
support to the striking ASHA workers led by the Kerala ASHA Health
Workers Association (KAHWA).
ASHA workers, at the grassroots level, are the main workforce of the public health sector. However, the succeeding governments at the Centre and states have always refused to recognise their immense value to the poor and needy in the rural India. They serve village folk and carry the health messages to the doorsteps of every household.
Despite their great service they are the lowest paid employees who are
euphemistically known as volunteer-workers. Using this title, the
government has abandoned its responsibility to pay them a decent salary. We are dismayed to note that the situation is no better in a state like Kerala ruled by LDF which boasts of speaking for the poor.
Friends, your demand to raise your remuneration up to Rs. 21,000 is just in view of the minimum wage Rs. 18,000 of an unskilled industrial worker approved by the government. ICAN hopes that the LDF government sees merit in all five demands raised by you and act in a reasonable manner by accepting them. We are confident
of your success.
In solidarity
Arvind Murti
Dear Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
It is distressing to read the news of the way in which the ASHA workers’ strike in Kerala is being handled. To say that ASHA workers are being misled by anarchist organisations, as one of your senior leaders did, is to deny their own agency as they agitate for their just demands. It is wilful forgetting of the long history of trade unionism and social activism in the state, which contributed to the famed Kerala model of development.
Continue reading Open Letter to the Kerala CM : The Need for Grace and Empathy in the State’s Response to the ASHA Workers’ Strike: Rajesh RamakrishnanDear Chief Minister,
In the democracy of our dreams, you, I and Asha workers are equal. But in this world, a (yet to be identified) person shouted at Asha workers from the first floor of the health minister’s official residence and they had to return without meeting the minister. A huge reason why the health department was praised by the world was the labour of these women. The minister’s demeanour towards them makes me wonder if she has forgotten this.
Continue reading Letter to the Kerala CM from a Concerned Citizen about the ASHA Workers’ Strike: ARCHANA RAVIThe Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union (TTCU) stands in solidarity with the ASHA workers of Kerala, whose strike has now entered its third week. As a women’s trade union we understand how difficult it is for women workers to step away from their responsibilities and take to the streets. It is never an easy decision, but one that becomes necessary when all other avenues to have their voices heard are exhausted.
Continue reading The Fight is Not Just About Better Pay: Solidarity with the Striking ASHA Workers of Kerala : TTCU
ASHA workers, the backbone of community healthcare, are neither privileged nor part of the ruling class. They receive honorariums, not wages, for their essential services. This constitutes a clear instance of labor exploitation and informalisation, a practice ironically reminiscent of the current government’s own historical roots in worker strikes dating back to the 1920s. Today, Dalit, Bahujan, and Adivasi women are leading the charge in this strike, demanding recognition as workers entitled to dignified working conditions and a basic living wage.
Continue reading Care work is work: in solidarity with the striking ASHA workers in Kerala: Sustainable Kerala Menstruation CollectiveThe ASHA workers’ strike in Kerala is entering its third week. We are appalled by the CPM-led government’s apathy and the disgusting ignorance of the CPM’s own history of trade unionism displayed by their spokespersons in the media. Maybe the forgetfulness of history is deliberate, because the CPM can no longer continue to nurture even minimally the ‘party of the poor’ image that it built in the middle decades of the twentieth century. While the ASHA workers were on strike in front of the State Secretariat and an ASHA Workers’ mass meet called by the striking association drew a very large number of such workers to the capital city, the government was busy holding an investors’ meet. Such a government cannot be expected to be attentive to the needs and rights of the workers, perhaps.
Continue reading Support the ASHA Workers’ Strike in Kerala: An Appeal to Women’s Organisations, Trade Unions, and Malayalis around the World : Althea
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 