The idea of this co operative is about applied research. Academic articles on social security and welfare benefits analsye the policy system , analyse the system of benefits etc. However the research isn’t complete till we get out of the traditional dogma and complete the research truly on ground. That would complete the loop and reduce the friction between academicians and practiontioners, who always blame each other for not working according to their persepctives. Infact any research isn’t complete till the on ground ramifications are true to the academic conclusions written. Research should always be in process and not be terminated for reasons of having no time or interest to make it reach its logical end.
So anyways, back to the construction workers co operative. Firstly it is not classfied and hopefully in the future would not be classifed a non profit organisation. This is a “for-profit” startup fucntioning on the basis of co operative economy, where everyone is equal to the other and is as important a stakeholder. The co operative would truly be able to sustain itself if there is an economic system developed on labor dynamics and economics; and the relation between the construction workers ( or master builders), architects, contractors, and developers.
The Indian consitution along the years since independence has developed welfare systems for unorganised sector workers and organised sector workers. Around 2007 it made a law called the Building and Construction Workers Cess Act. Under this law the states are supposed to have allocated funds to the construction workers welfare fund. To simplify the mention of this Law is that it is not duely followed by the state governments. A simple research over the funds allocated to welfare of construction workers differ through each State. It is the government’s responibility to get construction workers registered under the Act to receive welfare benefits. I had interviewd the labor commisioner of Pune in 2012, and realised the government is actually reaching out to construction workers, but not truly to the numbers in existence. This for the state of Maharashtra and the district of Pune. A visit to labor commisioners offices throughout India would paint a differently colored picture. This is where we as future members of the co operative come in, where we develop sustainable economic, relational ecosystems inclusive of all stakeholders mentioned above.
Today’s meeting started with introductions of amateur ideas regarding the co operative. We discussed about how we could organise construction workers to demand benefits of the rights they hold. The co operative shall also be a link between architects, developers, contractors and the construction workers.
The idea of upgrading livelihoods thorugh upgrading skills is beautiful on paper, in reality it requires an economic system to be developed or created.
So how do we go about it? We started discussing about a database (a simple excel sheet) of construction workers who have already established their place as “master masons” or assistants to master masons, with their skills. We first circulate this list amongst the 10 of us and add information about masons we have worked with. We start small basically. This information would be useful for all members of this co operative. For example, this sheet would be useful for masons to find regular work through architects/ contractors/ developers of this co operative. Incentive to the architects/developers/ contractors to be part of this co operative is that they would find regular labor for their works, certified by members who have updated the database with the quality/ portfolio of each mason’s work. Another incentive for the construction workers is that we would help them get access to government welfare schemes and social security benefits according to the law of the land.
However it is not that simple to get construction workers, architects and developers together. There have to be more than one incentive for each of these members of the co operative. So we try to develop a co operative economy. Its explained as follows.
– The database that we crowdsource, would be a valuable asset of the co operative say after one year or even 6 months of regular updates.
– This asset would be monetised for it to sustain the next 1 year through vendor advertisements.
How do we monetise/sustain this asset? whats in it for workers and professionals? Who funds it inititally? Do we really require funding?
- The co operative Model –
We have a great example in Pune about the SWaCH co operative, which includes waste pickers or as I’d really like to call them as solid waste management workers and the administrative staff that helps the co operative to function. The KKPKP (kagad Kaach Patra Kashtakaari Panchayat) trade union of workers was formed in 1993 to give an identity to waste workers in the city landscape.This union has started insurance systems within itself. The Union itself is the only way that the workers organise themselves to demand for their rights / social security funding according to laws of India, viz. the Unorganised Workers Act.
The SWaCH co operative came into being in 2007 with the idea of a co operative serving and maintaining solid waste management for Pune city. They started with door to door collection (DTDC) systems, maintaining compost pits and selling solutions for waste managements at different residential scales. For DTDC they charge Rs. 50 for every household. Compost pit maintaining is also charged to the housing society. There are about 2300 waste workers which are under the umbrella of SWaCH co op. The co operative not only looks at upgrading earning capacities for wastepickers by innovating waste management systems, but also upgrading livlihoods of the family members connected to each wastepicker.
The construction co operative would not be SWaCH duplicate, but the reasons for organising construction workers for upgrading livlihoods would be the same.
- We start with creating a database of construction workers and those belonging to allied fields like plumbing and electrical design implementation. We approach over 50 architects to update this database.
- We get these workers registered with the government at the Labor commissioner’s office in Wakdewadi.
- We help them to get access to their right to social security through government funds already alloted to construction workerd’ welfare fund and others.
4.We try to develop a rating system for each construction worker according to the skill he/she possesses and their work portfolios. We can ask them to submit photographs and a list of their work history. This saves time for the designer/ developer/ client to invest less time in finding for a particularly skilled labor; and from the construction worker’s perspective he/she gets regular work. The issue of migrant workers who work as helpers on site is complicated. We address this issue after we find some stronghold with the small trial amongst ourselves.
- Presently I don’t know when should we take it online for the entire pune city and till when should we limit ourselves to the group and information collected from 50 architects ( actually 50 is also a random number. Need to reason out this number)
- There is also a parallel idea, where we work as quality service providers (construction workers and architects) to the ones who cannot afford well designed, functional spaces but have money allocated for construction of their building . This particularly in rural areas and the hinterlands of the city. In the process of constructing in these areas, low cost solutions / tradtional technology solutions with good designs are rarely applied and practiced.
In this system we get funding from investors who are already there in the market supporting startups or through companies under corporate social responsibility funds. Investors would be get the incentive of their capital not being stagnant but running at a good pace. Also we could look for donations for this initiative. We also consider the local authorities like the PMC, regional collectors as potential clients (example building a school in a village).
We also set up training programs for construction workers with this funding , thereby further adding to the ‘main database’.
To sum up this long description
– we start an organisation/co operative to help the workers find opportunities to develop their skills and thereby their livelihoods.
– help architects/ designers / contractors to save on time finding the right person for a specified job and also get quality work get done.