A quaint building on Strahans Road at Pattalam in north Chennai, which would normally be discounted as yet another old structure in neglect, has a rich past. The two-storey weather-beaten structure stands testimony to the pioneering history of the Madras Labour Union (MLU), the country’s first organised labour union.
The union functioned at Selvapathy-Ramanuja building, named after its founders Selvapathy Chettiyar and G. Ramanjalu Naidu and opened on September 16, 1931. When they learnt about the appalling working conditions at Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in Perambur, they decided to form a union to help the workers out of distress during the British rule. The idea firmed up after the bhajan sessions at the Venkatesa Gunamrutha Varshini Sabha run by both leaders.
A meeting for workers
In his book, Thiru.Vi.Ka. Vaazhkai Kurippugal, Tamil scholar, activist and editor of Desabhakthan T.V. Kalyanasundara Mudaliyar, who had also served as the MLU vice-president, has written on one of the earliest meetings for workers at Janga Ramayammal Bungalow on March 2, 1918, where people were perched on trees and compound walls. Thiru.Vi.Ka translated the English speeches of theosophist B.P. Wadia, who went on to become the first president of the MLU. Diwan Bahadur P. Kesava Pillai, who wrote about issues of mill workers in Indian Patriot, and Thiru.Vi.Ka. were among those chosen as vice-presidents.
After a series of lectures on the need for a union to demand the rights of workers, the MLU was born on April 27, 1918, thanks to the efforts of various leaders, and Madras became the epicentre of labour movement. In his book, Thiru.Vi.Ka has also named several other comrades, including Chakkarai Chettiyar and N. Dhandapani Pillai, who had served the union. Later, several unions were formed, and they fought for rickshaw-pullers, policemen, tramway workers, railway workers and weavers.
First conference
The first labour conference was organised on March 21, 1920, with Diwan Bahadur Kesava Pillai in the chair. The Hindu, in its May 4, 1921 edition, reported on a meeting presided by its Editor S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. It was reported to be one of the largest meetings attended by workers of Buckingham and Carnatic and Choolai Mills.
Thiru.Vi.Ka also writes about the police firing at Perambur in 1921 that claimed the lives of seven workers, including a woman.
In his book, The Making of the Madras Working Class, D. Veeraraghavan writes that the Congress held a meeting to condemn the police firing and demanded an independent inquiry. While the nationalist press denounced the police firing, The Hindu called it “New Jallianwalah Bagh”.
Shutdown of mills and strikes were frequent then. May Day was first celebrated in the country in 1923 and labour activist M. Singaravelu led the celebration at Napier’s Park.
The MLU had inspired thousands of workers to fight for their rights. It conducted several agitations for a decrease in the work hours to eight a day, a bonus, an increase in wages, and weekly off. Various labour laws were enacted, thanks to the MLU’s efforts. It was an apolitical, independent labour union, says S. Natarajan, former general secretary, MLU. He is now spearheading court cases seeking compensation for nearly 2,300 Binny Mills workers who lost their jobs when it was closed in 1996.
Handed over to the Centre
He recalls that the Binny Mills was handed over to the Central government during the late 1960s. It later went into the hands of private players. The MLU had able leaders like Anthony Pillai, who was one of the long-standing presidents.
“I also took part in protests and many of us were arrested for taking out processions towards Fort St. George during 1970s and 1980s. The Binny Mills was closed for three months during an agitation for ₹3,000 in arrears in 1972. We fought for permanent jobs for temporary labourers who had worked for 280 days,” he recalls. However, many labourers had to agree to seven days of work during the Emergency.
Late trade unionist W.R. Varadarajan had filed one of the earliest cases for compensation. But the union split, and nearly 244 workers who had agreed to talks were provided with ₹1.25 lakh in compensation and a 500-square foot plot each. “The struggle for compensation continues for the nearly 2,300 workers. A large chunk of the prime mill property is being developed as a real estate space,” Mr. Natarajan says.
Over the decades, the strength of the union has shrunk from 20,000 to 2,300. After the closure of the mills, the MLU office moved to a smaller space at Jamalia. “Some of the MLU properties have been encroached upon. The State government must intervene and provide ₹15 lakh in compensation to each of the workers on the lines of the rehabilitation package offered to workers of Bangalore Binny Mills,” he says.
Trade unionists want the government to take over and restore the MLU building into a memorial or a library. V. Baskaran, secretary, National Labour Union and Dunlop Retired Employees’ Welfare Association, says many representations have been made. This iconic structure, which hosted meetings that led to many changes in labour laws, is concealed among vegetation. It still houses the statues of B.P. Wadia and Thiru.Vi.Ka and a plaque erected during its inauguration. It reminds one of the evolution of a trade union movement that transformed the misery of workers into hope.
