Labour – Alternative Law Forum
Source: https://altlawforum.org/campaigns/labour
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:34
Labour – Alternative Law Forum
SUPPORT THE FIGHT TO UPHOLD CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES
Your contribution will help sustain our efforts in providing subsidised legal assistance and initiating and participating in advocacy efforts to realise the imagination of a society based on the tenets of the Constitution.
MAKE YOUR DONATION
In compliance with tax regulations, donations from Indian nationals are required to be collected separately.
If you are an Indian citizen and/or have an Indian passport, please click the following button to securely donate to ALF.
DONATE
NON-INDIAN CITIZENS
If you are not an Indian national and are interested to donate to ALF, please write to communications (at) altlawforum.org.
Labour
Alternative Law Forum
>
Campaigns
>
Labour
Labour
ALF has worked on fact-finding reports, research, advocacy and litigating on issues of workers’ rights, injustices faced by both formal and informal sector workers and laws and bills affecting their livelihoods.
Areas of Work
Types of Publications
Advocacy
Fact Finding Report
In the Press
Published by ALF
April 22, 2025
/
Published by ALF
Stitching Lives, Organising Workers: Collectivising Efforts in the Export Oriented Garment Industry in Bengaluru
To download and read, click here ...
Read More
June 3, 2022
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Resignations and Resistance Amidst State Inaction: Chronicling Garment Work During the Pandemic
This volume is a compilation of three reports produced over the course of the years 2020 and 2021. The report ‘Garment Workers, COVID-19 pandemic and the Lockdown: A report from South Karnataka’ was published jointly by Garment Mahila Karmikara Munnade and Alternative Law Forum in May 2020. The report ‘Laid Off During ...
Read More
January 31, 2022
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
How Places Matter – Understanding Workers’ Responses to Garment Factory Closures during the Pandemic in Bengaluru and Srirangapatna
The paper looks at the phenomenon of forced resignations in the garment industry in Karnataka during the pandemic. It demonstrates how workers’ responses to forced resignations were determined by whether they were located in the city (Bengaluru) or a small town (Srirangapatna) and calls for an engagement with the local ...
Read More
August 4, 2021
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
Anti-Trafficking Bill: A travesty of legal principles
THE BILL CRIMINALISES THE LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS OF THOSE IT PURPORTS TO SAVE. The Union government is likely to introduce the Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2021, in the ongoing session of Parliament. This follows the lapse of the 2018 version, which was passed only in the Lok Sabha. The 2021 Bill, however, ...
Read More
April 2, 2021
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Forced Resignations, Stealthy Closures
Forced Resignations, Stealthy Closures is an account of the losses faced by garment workers in Bengaluru city during the course of the pandemic in the year 2020. It documents the phenomenon of ‘forced resignations’ in the garment industry whereby factory managements who want to close down or reduce workforce construct situations ...
Read More
December 22, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Laid-off during the pandemic: A case-study of the closure of a garment factory
To download the English report, click here.To download the English Executive Summary, click here.ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಡೌನ್ ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ...
Read More
August 17, 2020
/
Published by ALF
Everyday Resistance
Everyday Resistance Report. The report documents sexual harassment experiences of women working in the unorganised sector. You can download it here ...
Read More
May 26, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Garment Workers, COVID-19 Pandemic and the Lockdown: A Report from South Karnataka
To download, click here ...
Read More
February 21, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Street Vending: Pakka Legal! – A comic about the Street Vendors Act, and their right to livelihood
Be it Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru, streets in any Indian city will not be the same without our vendors. It is because of the low-cost access to goods and services provided by street vendors that cities become more affordable for working and middle classes. They are the eyes and ...
Read More
January 30, 2017
/
Advocacy
Contract Pourakarmikas Struggle Relentlessly for Better Wages: Lekha KG
After relentless struggle of more than three years demanding for better wages, the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha (BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Union – affiliated with AICCTU) was successful in compelling the State government to increase the monthly wages payable to guttige pourakarmikas. On August 14th, 2016, the State Government issued a ...
Read More
December 31, 2016
/
Advocacy
Demonetization, the informal economy and civil society
The 50 days of the ‘Demon’ are now done. Even as the nation waits in apprehension, wanting to know what lies next, there have been several humorous responses to the same. Church Street Social, an upscale pub in Bangalore has announced that their customers can get a drink of beer ...
Read More
May 31, 2015
/
Advocacy
The Aesthetics of Discrimination: Street Vendors and Public Spaces
A few weeks ago, a number of street vendors were illegally evicted by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board following a complaint by a local resident (who also happened to be a Member of the Ruling Party). The complaint was based on the notion that street vendors were an ...
Read More
October 11, 2014
/
Advocacy
Order by Karnataka HC directing that Street Vendors Act must be followed while making Streets Safer for Pedestrians
Karnataka High Court has passed an interim order that provisions of Street Vendors Act must not be violated by the Government while implementing earlier orders of the Court in the PIL to make streets safer and friendlier for pedestrians.The order is reproduced below for reference. If anyone hears of any ...
Read More
September 11, 2014
/
Advocacy
High Court Order in Bangalore Metro Rail Construction Workers’ Case
Following is the order passed by the Karnataka High Court in the BMRCL construction workers case, which raised the issue of violation of various legislations governing workmen working on the Bangalore Metro Rail Project ...
Read More
July 23, 2014
/
Advocacy
Call for Public Comments on Framework for Rules on Rights of Street Vendors
The Central Government recently passed an act to protect the rights of street vendors – the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation)Act, 2014. The Karnataka government through a G.O dated 14/07/2014 , No. NaAE81MLR has constituted a committee under the chairpersonship of the Director, Municipal Administration to frame rules for ...
Read More
July 11, 2011
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Manual Scavenging Workers in Hasan, 9 July 2011
Read on Scribd here. Fact Finding Report: Death ... by altlawforum ...
Read More
June 29, 2011
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
A Milestone Verdict in the Domestic Worker Struggle
Papamma, a domestic worker in Bangalore, took her employers to court and managed to receive a favourable judgment. This is a historic victory for perhaps the most vulnerable segment of unorganised workers, made possible by the support of a trade union, a dedicated team of advocates and a labour officer ...
Read More
December 22, 2010
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Manhole Workers in Kolar
Yet again two unfortunate victims lost their lives to asphyxiation in manholes. This time the ‘accident’ repeated itself on 11th December 2010, at a manhole near the R.T.O. in Kolar city ending the lives of Shri Manjunath and Shri Rajanna. ALF carried out a fact finding report, which can be ...
Read More
May 12, 2009
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Three Manual Scavengers in Karimsaab Layout, 9 May 2009
The three sanitary workers (manual scavengers) – Rajanna, Shivu, and Pampanna – died due to asphyxiation when they entered the soak pit of the house belonging to Jayaram at Jayanna to clean it at Karimsaab Layout. This Report was collated by ALF and sent to the Karnataka Human Rights Commission ...
Read More
April 21, 2009
/
Fact Finding Report
Fact- Finding Report on the Death of Workers on Construction Site, 21st April, 2009
Report by Kattada Karmikara Hittarakshane Samiti --------------------------------------- The deaths of and injuries to construction workers have now become a regular occurrence, which one is witness to everyday. On 21st April, 2009 one worker fell from the 4th floor of a new college building under construction on Hennur Ring Road. A ...
Read More
March 9, 2009
/
Advocacy
Complaint to the SHRC: Death of 1 person & Injury to 1 person while laying of underground drainage in Vyalikaval
Complaint to the SHRC in regard to the deaths of 1 person and injury to 1 person during laying of underground drainage in Vyalikaval on March 8th , 2009 9th March, 2009 Bangalore Dear Sir, We would like to bring to your attention the death of 1 person and the ...
Read More
December 15, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
Labour Camp in Narayanpura (near Kristu Jayanthi College, opposite Banyan Tree)
About 12 extremely small huts made of plastic sheets are home to these migrant families from the villages of Mundrigi, Ramachandra, nandapalli, Myalapura and Balichakri in Yadgiri taluk, Gulbarga district. Some of the families have been working as construction labourers in Bangalore for the past 25 years. However, only one ...
Read More
December 15, 2008
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Representations on Manual Scavengers’ Death in Bengaluru
Date:14.07.2008 Bangalore To, The Chairperson National Human Rights Commission New Delhi. Sub: Death of two workers due to asphyxiation having being trapped in manhole, in Bangalore City Ref: Case no. 51/10/15/08-09/UC in regard to the death of two manhole workers and injury to five in K.R. Nagar in Karnataka Dear ...
Read More
July 5, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
Another Construction Worker dies: Accident at small residential complex in Chikkalsandra
On 04.07.2008, the Kannada daily “Praja Vani” reported an accident at a construction site at Chikkalsandra in which one construction worker Raju (25 years) of Tamila Nadu died while another Thirupathi also of T.N. (Krishnagiri) was injured as mud caved in on them when they were digging a trench for ...
Read More
June 15, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
The tradegy at Shobha Magnolia Two construction workers dead and seven critically injured: Banerghatta
Report by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka Domestic Workers Union, Slum Jagatthu, Janapara Vedike, Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Stree Jagruthi, Human Rights Law Network and Alternative Law Forum. --------------------------------------- The deaths of and injuries to construction workers have now become a regular occurrence. Even before the news of the death ...
Read More
September 9, 2005
/
Published by ALF
Guide to Workmen’s Compensation Act
To download the English Version, click here. For the Kannada Version, click here ...
Read More
September 9, 2005
/
Published by ALF
Law Relating to Minimum Wages (English & Kannada)
To download the English Version, click here. For the Kannada Version, click here.http://altlawforum.org/publications/guide-to-workmens-compensation-act/ ...
Read More
Alternative Law Forum
GET IN TOUCH:
122/4 Infantry Road, Next to Balaji Art Gallery, Bangalore, India 560001 (Nearest bus stop: Shivajinagar)
Unless explicitly stated, all the material on this website can be used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial India 2.5 license.
SUPPORT THE FIGHT TO UPHOLD CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES
Your contribution will help sustain our efforts in providing subsidised legal assistance and initiating and participating in advocacy efforts to realise the imagination of a society based on the tenets of the Constitution.
MAKE YOUR DONATION
In compliance with tax regulations, donations from Indian nationals are required to be collected separately.
If you are an Indian citizen and/or have an Indian passport, please click the following button to securely donate to ALF.
DONATE
NON-INDIAN CITIZENS
If you are not an Indian national and are interested to donate to ALF, please write to communications (at) altlawforum.org.
Labour
Alternative Law Forum
>
Campaigns
>
Labour
Labour
ALF has worked on fact-finding reports, research, advocacy and litigating on issues of workers’ rights, injustices faced by both formal and informal sector workers and laws and bills affecting their livelihoods.
Areas of Work
Types of Publications
Advocacy
Fact Finding Report
In the Press
Published by ALF
April 22, 2025
/
Published by ALF
Stitching Lives, Organising Workers: Collectivising Efforts in the Export Oriented Garment Industry in Bengaluru
To download and read, click here ...
Read More
June 3, 2022
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Resignations and Resistance Amidst State Inaction: Chronicling Garment Work During the Pandemic
This volume is a compilation of three reports produced over the course of the years 2020 and 2021. The report ‘Garment Workers, COVID-19 pandemic and the Lockdown: A report from South Karnataka’ was published jointly by Garment Mahila Karmikara Munnade and Alternative Law Forum in May 2020. The report ‘Laid Off During ...
Read More
January 31, 2022
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
How Places Matter – Understanding Workers’ Responses to Garment Factory Closures during the Pandemic in Bengaluru and Srirangapatna
The paper looks at the phenomenon of forced resignations in the garment industry in Karnataka during the pandemic. It demonstrates how workers’ responses to forced resignations were determined by whether they were located in the city (Bengaluru) or a small town (Srirangapatna) and calls for an engagement with the local ...
Read More
August 4, 2021
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
Anti-Trafficking Bill: A travesty of legal principles
THE BILL CRIMINALISES THE LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS OF THOSE IT PURPORTS TO SAVE. The Union government is likely to introduce the Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2021, in the ongoing session of Parliament. This follows the lapse of the 2018 version, which was passed only in the Lok Sabha. The 2021 Bill, however, ...
Read More
April 2, 2021
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Forced Resignations, Stealthy Closures
Forced Resignations, Stealthy Closures is an account of the losses faced by garment workers in Bengaluru city during the course of the pandemic in the year 2020. It documents the phenomenon of ‘forced resignations’ in the garment industry whereby factory managements who want to close down or reduce workforce construct situations ...
Read More
December 22, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Laid-off during the pandemic: A case-study of the closure of a garment factory
To download the English report, click here.To download the English Executive Summary, click here.ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಡೌನ್ ಲೋಡ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು ...
Read More
August 17, 2020
/
Published by ALF
Everyday Resistance
Everyday Resistance Report. The report documents sexual harassment experiences of women working in the unorganised sector. You can download it here ...
Read More
May 26, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Garment Workers, COVID-19 Pandemic and the Lockdown: A Report from South Karnataka
To download, click here ...
Read More
February 21, 2020
/
Advocacy
,
Published by ALF
Street Vending: Pakka Legal! – A comic about the Street Vendors Act, and their right to livelihood
Be it Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru, streets in any Indian city will not be the same without our vendors. It is because of the low-cost access to goods and services provided by street vendors that cities become more affordable for working and middle classes. They are the eyes and ...
Read More
January 30, 2017
/
Advocacy
Contract Pourakarmikas Struggle Relentlessly for Better Wages: Lekha KG
After relentless struggle of more than three years demanding for better wages, the BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha (BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Union – affiliated with AICCTU) was successful in compelling the State government to increase the monthly wages payable to guttige pourakarmikas. On August 14th, 2016, the State Government issued a ...
Read More
December 31, 2016
/
Advocacy
Demonetization, the informal economy and civil society
The 50 days of the ‘Demon’ are now done. Even as the nation waits in apprehension, wanting to know what lies next, there have been several humorous responses to the same. Church Street Social, an upscale pub in Bangalore has announced that their customers can get a drink of beer ...
Read More
May 31, 2015
/
Advocacy
The Aesthetics of Discrimination: Street Vendors and Public Spaces
A few weeks ago, a number of street vendors were illegally evicted by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board following a complaint by a local resident (who also happened to be a Member of the Ruling Party). The complaint was based on the notion that street vendors were an ...
Read More
October 11, 2014
/
Advocacy
Order by Karnataka HC directing that Street Vendors Act must be followed while making Streets Safer for Pedestrians
Karnataka High Court has passed an interim order that provisions of Street Vendors Act must not be violated by the Government while implementing earlier orders of the Court in the PIL to make streets safer and friendlier for pedestrians.The order is reproduced below for reference. If anyone hears of any ...
Read More
September 11, 2014
/
Advocacy
High Court Order in Bangalore Metro Rail Construction Workers’ Case
Following is the order passed by the Karnataka High Court in the BMRCL construction workers case, which raised the issue of violation of various legislations governing workmen working on the Bangalore Metro Rail Project ...
Read More
July 23, 2014
/
Advocacy
Call for Public Comments on Framework for Rules on Rights of Street Vendors
The Central Government recently passed an act to protect the rights of street vendors – the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihoods and Regulation)Act, 2014. The Karnataka government through a G.O dated 14/07/2014 , No. NaAE81MLR has constituted a committee under the chairpersonship of the Director, Municipal Administration to frame rules for ...
Read More
July 11, 2011
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Manual Scavenging Workers in Hasan, 9 July 2011
Read on Scribd here. Fact Finding Report: Death ... by altlawforum ...
Read More
June 29, 2011
/
Advocacy
,
In the Press
A Milestone Verdict in the Domestic Worker Struggle
Papamma, a domestic worker in Bangalore, took her employers to court and managed to receive a favourable judgment. This is a historic victory for perhaps the most vulnerable segment of unorganised workers, made possible by the support of a trade union, a dedicated team of advocates and a labour officer ...
Read More
December 22, 2010
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Manhole Workers in Kolar
Yet again two unfortunate victims lost their lives to asphyxiation in manholes. This time the ‘accident’ repeated itself on 11th December 2010, at a manhole near the R.T.O. in Kolar city ending the lives of Shri Manjunath and Shri Rajanna. ALF carried out a fact finding report, which can be ...
Read More
May 12, 2009
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Fact Finding Report: Death of Three Manual Scavengers in Karimsaab Layout, 9 May 2009
The three sanitary workers (manual scavengers) – Rajanna, Shivu, and Pampanna – died due to asphyxiation when they entered the soak pit of the house belonging to Jayaram at Jayanna to clean it at Karimsaab Layout. This Report was collated by ALF and sent to the Karnataka Human Rights Commission ...
Read More
April 21, 2009
/
Fact Finding Report
Fact- Finding Report on the Death of Workers on Construction Site, 21st April, 2009
Report by Kattada Karmikara Hittarakshane Samiti --------------------------------------- The deaths of and injuries to construction workers have now become a regular occurrence, which one is witness to everyday. On 21st April, 2009 one worker fell from the 4th floor of a new college building under construction on Hennur Ring Road. A ...
Read More
March 9, 2009
/
Advocacy
Complaint to the SHRC: Death of 1 person & Injury to 1 person while laying of underground drainage in Vyalikaval
Complaint to the SHRC in regard to the deaths of 1 person and injury to 1 person during laying of underground drainage in Vyalikaval on March 8th , 2009 9th March, 2009 Bangalore Dear Sir, We would like to bring to your attention the death of 1 person and the ...
Read More
December 15, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
Labour Camp in Narayanpura (near Kristu Jayanthi College, opposite Banyan Tree)
About 12 extremely small huts made of plastic sheets are home to these migrant families from the villages of Mundrigi, Ramachandra, nandapalli, Myalapura and Balichakri in Yadgiri taluk, Gulbarga district. Some of the families have been working as construction labourers in Bangalore for the past 25 years. However, only one ...
Read More
December 15, 2008
/
Advocacy
,
Fact Finding Report
Representations on Manual Scavengers’ Death in Bengaluru
Date:14.07.2008 Bangalore To, The Chairperson National Human Rights Commission New Delhi. Sub: Death of two workers due to asphyxiation having being trapped in manhole, in Bangalore City Ref: Case no. 51/10/15/08-09/UC in regard to the death of two manhole workers and injury to five in K.R. Nagar in Karnataka Dear ...
Read More
July 5, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
Another Construction Worker dies: Accident at small residential complex in Chikkalsandra
On 04.07.2008, the Kannada daily “Praja Vani” reported an accident at a construction site at Chikkalsandra in which one construction worker Raju (25 years) of Tamila Nadu died while another Thirupathi also of T.N. (Krishnagiri) was injured as mud caved in on them when they were digging a trench for ...
Read More
June 15, 2008
/
Fact Finding Report
The tradegy at Shobha Magnolia Two construction workers dead and seven critically injured: Banerghatta
Report by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Karnataka Domestic Workers Union, Slum Jagatthu, Janapara Vedike, Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Stree Jagruthi, Human Rights Law Network and Alternative Law Forum. --------------------------------------- The deaths of and injuries to construction workers have now become a regular occurrence. Even before the news of the death ...
Read More
September 9, 2005
/
Published by ALF
Guide to Workmen’s Compensation Act
To download the English Version, click here. For the Kannada Version, click here ...
Read More
September 9, 2005
/
Published by ALF
Law Relating to Minimum Wages (English & Kannada)
To download the English Version, click here. For the Kannada Version, click here.http://altlawforum.org/publications/guide-to-workmens-compensation-act/ ...
Read More
Alternative Law Forum
GET IN TOUCH:
122/4 Infantry Road, Next to Balaji Art Gallery, Bangalore, India 560001 (Nearest bus stop: Shivajinagar)
Unless explicitly stated, all the material on this website can be used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial India 2.5 license.