Building a Wider
Horizon With Labour
What is Digital Labour Archive and why?
The Digital Labour Archive (DLA) is a repository developed by CEC with the support of Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS)-South Asia. The objective of the DLA is to assist researchers, activists and authorities in accessing relevant documents in a systematic manner on the struggles and experiences of labour in contemporary India, to facilitate better understanding, analysis, research and strategy building. DLA especially focuses on the informal sector workers employed in global value chains, such as those of the garment and automobile sectors. DLA aspires to be a knowledge hub for researchers, scholars and activists.
Accessing the Digital Labour Archive
A full-fledged dedicated website for the Digital Labour Archive is under construction. Currently the entire collection is accessible via offline mode, five days a week (excluding Saturdays and Sundays) at the library of the Centre for Education and Communication (CEC). Sample of the digitized documents can be accessed online, as below.
Nature of Materials in the Digital Labour Archive
DLA has a rich collection of materials, such as trade union correspondence, pamphlets, photographs, booklets, cartoons, letters, petitions, newspaper clippings, magazines, reports, interviews of trade union activists, labour scholars and worker leaders.
The materials are being catalogued on the basis of sources and subjects. DLA has materials from organisations such as the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Centre of India Trade Unions (CITU), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Peoples’ Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) etc. It has materials on garment workers, automobile workers, domestic workers, construction workers, brick kiln workers, mine workers, Anganwadi workers, marginal farmers and others. DLA also has a collection of workers’ magazines, journals and newspapers, such as Labour File, Shraam Jeevi, Toontati Sankaale, Nagrik, Mehnatkash etc.
Source wise materials
The Archive has been built by collecting material from varied sources including newspapers and trade unions archives. The material gathered is of varied media, including audio-visual material, as well as posters, photographs, cartoons and pamphlets.
This collection includes materials such as copies of organs of the central trade unions, such as the Trade Union Record (TUR), a fortnightly magazine published by AITUC, covering information on union activities across India, reports of labour conferences, meetings and news clippings of struggles. Currently, the DLA has TUR issues for 36 years i.e. for the period 1979-2019. Other important materials, such as correspondence among union leaders on matters related to workers’ struggles, campaigns, court cases, documents on the Fifty Years of AITUC, engagements with World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) etc. also are also included in the DLA. Organisational initiatives and campaigns of women workers, such as Anganwadi workers, reports on celebration of International Women’s Day, May Day etc. are also part of the collection.
The Archive has a rich collection of newspaper clippings related to the transfer of small industries from Delhi to the adjoining areas and the related struggles of workers and owners of small enterprises, from 1990s onwards. The Archive also has a collection of clippings on workers’ migration, struggles and daily lives throughout the Covid-19 period.
The Digital Labour Archive has a series of interviews of labour historians, trade union activists and workers on different dimensions of working class lives, struggles, challenges of new labour regimes and experiences of organising workers. The audio-visual materials also contain films made for workers’ education, such as adult education, provident fund, medical insurance, maternity benefit, bonded labour and others.
This collection comprises of various notifications and orders issued by the state and central governments in the Covid-19 period, with regard to the workers, their wages, travel, food and other provisions. Reports, articles, petitions, and press releases during the lockdowns and unlocking periods have also been compiled in this collection.
5. Photographs, Cartoons
Historical and contemporary photographs on labour struggles, everyday lives of workers in workspaces and communities, trade union leaders and workers’ leaders are being collected and curated through the Digital Labour Archive.
Subject wise materials
The source materials have been re-classified into subject categories, for the convenience of the user. The following is an indicative subject list, in alphabetical order. The following is an indicative list of subject wise categories used in the DLA:
1. Automobile Workers
In this category, documents related to the struggles and campaigns of automobile workers employed in the different layers of the automobile value chain, especially in the Delhi-NCR region have been documented. These include news reports, letters exchanged between unions and authorities, copies of Constitution and related papers of auto unions, studies, petitions, court papers, photographs and interviews of worker leaders.
2. Domestic Workers
Documents related to the struggles of domestic workers, initiatives of forming unions and forums of domestic workers unions, cases related to violation of rights of domestic workers, legal provisions and interviews of domestic workers.
3. EPF Papers
Documents related to disputes and struggles for inclusion of different sectors, industries and firms under the provisions of the Employees Provident Fund. These also include disputes raised by workers about unfair cuts, irregularities and ambiguities related to Provident Fund provisions.
4. Factories and Fires
A collection of newspaper reports, articles and studies on fire accidents in factories and slums in Delhi-NCR and other parts of the country.
5. Garment Workers
Documents, reports, studies on labour conditions, struggles and conflicts related to garment workers in India, especially in Delhi NCR.
6. Just Transition
Following is a curated list of materials containing reports, interviews, studies, newspaper articles etc. from India, relevant for the theme of Just Transition. These include proposals, responses and actions of employers, authorities, labour organisations and civil society organisations on climate change and green initiatives. Actions being taken, their impact on the workers, their lessons for the working class communities and organisations in India is being captured by this collection.
The objective here is to contribute to better understanding about Just Transition, and it’s relevance for the workers. They will be helpful in visualising an inclusive Just Transition Agenda, with active involvement of labour collectives, prepare the labour collectives and the workers to contribute to policies on Just Transition.
For list (index and meta-data) of the documents, click here
To access the documents, click here.
7. Labour Laws
Documents on campaigns and struggles related to changes made in labour laws. These include various versions and drafts of labour laws, submissions made by unions, reports on proceedings of tripartite consultations, impact studies etc.
8. Leaders and Papers
These include Letters, articles, essays and other papers of prominent trade union leaders of India.
9. Magazines and Newspapers
Collection of mouthpieces of central trade unions, reports of human rights organisations, workers’ magazines, journals and newspapers, such as TUR, Labour File, Shraam Jeevi, Toonti Sankle, Nagarik, Mehnatkash etc.
10. Pamphlets and Posters
Pamphlets and posters released by workers organisations on various matters such as price rise, labour laws, policies, labour strikes etc. released during May Day demonstrations and other occasions across the recent years.
Strike of Auto and Taxi Drivers
11. Police and Administration
Letters, reports and news items related to police and administrative actions on workers, FIRs, complaints, permission letters for programmes etc.
12. Union Papers
Documents of workers unions based on trade and sectors such as Construction Workers, Transport Workers, Medical Unions, University Workers, Gig Workers etc.
About the Archive Team
The Digital Labour Archive is being developed and maintained by a group of professionals associated with CEC. It includes historians, archivists, technicians and volunteers.