How Much Does Kerala’s Trade Union Workers Charge To Just Watch A Crane Do The Unloading Job? Rs 4,000

The incident has occurred under the pretext of the state’s infamous ‘nokku kooli’(wage for looking) system.

Updated on: 10 February 2017 2:51 pm

How Much Does Kerala’s Trade Union Workers Charge To Just Watch A Crane Do The Unloading Job? Rs 4,000

A group of six trade union activists in Kerala charged Rs.4,000 for just watching a crain unloading a diesel generator. The incident occurred under the pretext of the state’s infamous Nokku Kooli (wage for looking) system.

Nokkukooli is a share paid to trade union labourers for hanging around when the actual work is done by private labourers or machines. Nokkukooli thrives under the argument that workers have the right to work, even in sectors where mechanization has taken over.

Malayala Manorama reported that the activists were members of a trade union affiliated to a leading national party. They charged Rs.4,000 wage from a private company in Kochi for unloading a diesel generator imported from Maharashtra by using a crain. The generator was to be installed at the office of the Kerala State Medical Service Corporation.

The private company which was forced to pay said that they had approached the Headload Workers Welfare Board complaining about the activists’ demand to pay nokku kooli. The representatives of the company alleged that it was the Board who asked them topay Rs. 4,000 as a compromise amount. The Board also issued a receipt for the paying Rs.4,000 for six activists.

According to the report, the company had told the activists that workers would not be able to unload the crain which weighed around 2 ton. The workers responded by saying that they would arrange a crain for unloading and demanded Rs. 26,000. However, the company representatives refused to pay that much amount and arranged a crain on their own for a rent of Rs. 3,500. This provoked the activists.

The Kerala high court had asked the state government to treat nokku kooli, mainly seen in loading and unloading activities where a payment is made to head loaders affiliated to a union even if they haven't worked for you, on par with extortion. The Left parties in the state had been accused of promoting the system by giving political justification to it. It had made headlines in the state in 2015 when a foreign artist at Kochi- Muziris Biennale denied to pay high wages to the workers and destroyed his own art work in protest.