Page 8 - Lessonnote_ Change and Development in Industrial Society

➢ workers, mostly women, roll the bidis – first dampening the leaves, then cutting them, filling
in tobacco evenly and then tying them with thread.

➢ The contractor picks up these bidis and sells them to the manufacturer who roasts them,
and puts on his own brand label.
➢ The manufacturer then sells them to a distributor who distributes the packed bidis to
wholesalers who in turn sell to your neighbourhood pan shops.

Strikes and unions
• Many workers are part of trade unions. Trade unions in India have to overcome a number of

problems such as regionalism and casteism.
• Strike is a situation where workers restrain from work because they want better wages.
• It is a very risky proposition for the workers as the employer may not take them back after
the strike.
• Lockout is when the management closes down these factory or industry for some time.
• Union is an association formed to protect the interest of the factory workers.

Bombay Textile Mill Strike-1982
▪ It was led by the trade union leader Dr. Datta Samant and affected quarter million workers
and their families.
▪ The Strike lasted nearly two years.
▪ The workers wanted better wages and also wanted the right to form their own union.
▪ According to the Bombay Industrial Relations Act (BIRA), a union had to be ‘approved’ and
the only way it could be ‘approved’ was if it gave up the idea of strikes.
▪ The Congress-led Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (RMMS) was the only approved union and it
helped to break the strike by bringing in other workers.
▪ The Government also refused to listen to the worker’s demands. Slowly after two years,
people started going back to work because they were desperate.

Consequences
• Nearly one lakh workers lost their jobs, and went back to their villages or took up casual
labour, others moved to smaller towns like Bhiwandi, Malegaon and Icchalkaranji, to work in
the powerloom sector.
• Mill owners did not invest in machinery and modernisation.
• Today, they are trying to sell off the mill land to real estate dealers to build luxury
apartments, leading to a battle over who will define the future of Bombay – the workers

who built it or the mill owners and real estate agents.