Unfreedom and Waged Work

Unfreedom and Waged Work: Labour in India's Manufacturing Industry provides an update on the debates relating to the work and welfare of industrial labour in India. Concentrating on factory workers in India's organized manufacturing industry, the study analyses, on the basis of official statistics as well as field survey data, the poor status of workers even in this relatively regulated sector, in terms of jobs and the related absence of 'security' that provides the content of 'unfreedom of waged labour' as discussed in this book. The key features of the book are as follows: a critical survey of the neo-liberal theories relating to wages, employment and labour flexibility; a three-digit classification of industry data in India to explain the recent phase of 'job-less growth' including casualization; firm-level data to test the impact of opening up of economy on output and employment; a large body of primary field-survey data on work, education, age, skill, casualization and living conditions of workers, presented through reader-friendly tables and figures; a labour security index for different categories of workers which shows the declining levels of various forms of labour security in terms of income, work, financial status, etc; and a critical look at the recommendations of the National Commission of Labour with its advocacy of labour market flexibility and an undermining of the role of trade unions. The book will attract a wide readership amongst students and researchers in social sciences and social activists and policy makers within the country and overseas.