1.Choose any occupation you see around you – and describe it along the following lines (a) social composition of the work force – caste, gender, age, region (b) labour process – how the work takes place, (c) wages and other benefits, (d) working conditions – safety, rest times, working hours, etc.
Answer. 1. Since 1990’s, the government has followed policy of liberalization. Private companies, especially foreign firms encouraged investment in sector which was earlier reserved for the government.
2.Generally people get jobs through advertisement or through employment exchange in industrial sector. Man and women both work in industrial sector. The persons engaged in industry get salary or wages along with certain benefits like HRA (House Rent Allowance) and Medical facilities.
3.Job recruitment as a factory worker takes a different pattern. In the past, many workers got their jobs through contractors or jobbers. In the Kanpur textile mills, these jobbers were known as mistris, and were themselves workers. They came from the same regions and communities as the workers, but because they had the owner’s backing they bossed over the workers.
4.The mistri also put community related pressures on the workers. Nowadays, the importance of the jobber has come down, and both management and unions play a role in recruiting their own people.
5.Workers also expect that they can pass on their jobs to their children. Many factories employ badli workers who substitute for regular permanent workers who are on leave. Many of these badli workers have actually worked for many years for the same company but are not given the same status and security. This is what is called contract work in the organized sector.
6.The contractor system is most visible in the hiring of casual labour for work on construction sites, brickyards and so on. The contractor goes to villages and asks if people want work. He will loan them some money. This loan includes the cost of transport of the work side.
7.The loaned money is treated as an advance wages and the worker works without wages until the loan is repaid. In the past, agricultural labourers were tied to their landlord by debt. Now, however, by moving to casual industrial work, while they are still in debt, they are not bound by other social obligations to the contractor. In that sense, they are more free in an industrial society. They can break the contract and find another employer. Sometimes, whole families migrate and the children help their parents.
8.Presently social composition of the work force in industry is concerned, people from all
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