Yellapa, 35, was a relieved man. For nearly three months, he had struggled to recover Rs 4,000 worth of wages that a construction contractor owed him and his wife. As a migrant construction worker, Yellapa earns around Rs 700 a day in Bengaluru, a city he calls home for most of the year, save for a few months when he returns to his village 600 km away in north Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district.
“I had been trying to recover the wages owed to me and my wife for a few months, but the contractor kept making excuses and delayed paying the pending wages. Then I found the helpline number on a card that was distributed here,” Yellapa told IndiaSpend.
We had met him in southwest Bengaluru’s Hosakerehalli labour hub in early July, where he was waiting along with other labourers to find a day’s work from contractors. After contacting the helpline, Yellapa was finally able to recover the wages through mediation.
That helpline is India Labourline, which was set up for migrant and informal workers in July 2021 by Working Peoples’ Charter in collaboration with the Aajeevika Bureau. The Working Peoples’ Charter is a coalition of organisations working on labour issues, headquartered in Mumbai. Aajeevika Bureau Trust works for migrant worker welfare…
