Working People’s Charter (WPC) is delighted to announce the launch of a National Helpline, with the support from Aajeevika Bureau.

The launch of this national helpline is a direct response to the thriving unorganised sector and rising informal employment in India. Especially for the situation where the informal work means precarious work, involving irregular and insecure work in unsafe workplaces, for long work hours and low wages. In addition to this the high prevalence of work-related frauds involving informal and seasonal migrant labour, such as wage frauds, bondage, physical and verbal abuse and non-payment of compensation following accidents in hazardous workplaces.

The helpline will also respond to the issue of information dissemination among the workers about social security schemes by the state and accessing them. This also extends to the knowledge building for financial inclusion and access to banking services. While many of these issues have been persisting for a long time, the COVID-19 lockdown crisis compounded them to a large degree, manifesting in unprecedented distress for this community of workers.

Exacerbated vulnerabilities of the workers, especially migrants, since the enforcement of the COVID lockdown suggests that the structural issues described above are likely to be magnified in the coming months. Therefore, this helpline will scale up the response at a national level, through collaborative efforts with local and state-based organisations.