The National Platform of Community Health Workers In India met in Chennai at the start of July to discuss the conclusions of the discussion on care at the 2024 International Labour Conference.

Huma Haq, PSI Social Care Organiser described the discussions that took place and the struggles that were had over the inclusion of progressive wording that carried workers positions. A clear win was the inclusion in the guiding principles that “the State has a primary responsibility for care provision, funding, regulation and ensuring high standards of quality, safety and health for care workers and care recipients. This includes the allocation of the necessary resources and the adoption maintenance of a robust policy and regulatory framework”.  The two days of discussions of the national platform focused on this guiding principle, considering how India can take this responsibility forward to secure decent work, pay and social security for CHWs that are almost all women, as well as provide quality public services for care.

The guiding principles also calls for a rights based approach, and ratification of ILO conventions related to care and application of fundamental worker rights to all care workers. But ASHA and Anganwadi workers and Community health volunteers that make up the 3.5 million strong community health workforce in India are not covered by labour laws and so do not have access to collective bargaining and occupational health and safety and there is little protection from harassment and discrimination. At the presentation given by labour lawyer Ramapriya, she advised the platform to focus on campaigning for extending current labour laws, particularly minimum wages and social securities like EPF, Gratuity to the community health workforce.

In order to promote alliances several presenters from civil society, academia and media spoke of their interests in role of CHWs to public health, the feminized nature of this work and the need for recognition from the public of the contribution made by CHWs. They encouraged unions to engage them more and let them amplify the voices of CHWs through storytelling. Whilst there is little resistance to the moral argument for recognition and regularization of CHWs as public sector workers with decent work, stories of the good work that has been done is not enough. CHWs need convincing arguments that require sound macro-economic perspective on the contribution care work can make to the labour market as well as to improving socioeconomic development indicators.

One idea that came from brainstorming the way forward is to produce children’s storybooks that uplift the role CHWs play in the formative years of the future generation. Participants left the meeting energized to take forward advocacy and campaign work that they agreed started with valuing their own personal contributions and each other.