Mumbai security men working in worst of conditions

A weekly off seems like a distant memory to Ram Singh. The 36-year-old security guard of a commercial establishment in an upmarket suburban area hasn’t been able to take a day off in one-and-a-half years. He is on a tight 12-hour shift, 365 days a year. But working his fingers to the bone hasn’t paid off.

“I can hardly make ends meet despite working for this big company. I get Rs5,000 a month and the firm doesn’t even pay us for working overtime,” he alleges.  

A guard sitting by Singh says he will make do with this job till the time a better opportunity presents itself to him. “How else can we send our children to good schools?” he asks.

Several experts allege that security agencies and co-operative housing societies in the city exploit a majority of security guards. Worse, they get away with it because of legal loopholes.

A source from a security agency, which employs almost 7,000 guards, takes umbrage at the state of affairs. “The security sector is the second largest employer after the manufacturing industry. How can we tolerate this? Why can’t people pay them fair wages? A security guard puts his life at stake for a measly salary.”

Outfoxing lawmakers
So, how do these ‘exploiters’ work around the law? Experts point out that provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, do not apply to an entity if it hires less than 20 employees. “Housing societies say they do not come under the purview of the Act since they do not have as many security guards. But, the moment a housing society employs guards from a contractor or a security agency that has over 20 guards on its rolls, the law immediately applies to that agency, making it the principal employer defined in the Act,” says a source from a security agency.

He reveals that even some corporate houses pay guards just Rs4,500-Rs6,000 a month for a 12-hour shift. “Companies propose low quotes to security contractors when hiring guards. They have no choice but to agree to low quotes since they don’t want to lose out on contracts. No contractor will work with a loss. So, they try to make up for the loss from the guards’ salaries. If the company is inspected, then it resorts to ‘plausible deniability’ and puts the blame squarely on the contractor, even though the company is the principal employer and it is its responsibility to ensure that contract labourers are not exploited.”

Ideally, explains a security personnel working with a housing society, a guard should make Rs10,000 per month for eight-hour shifts. But, that perhaps happens in an alternative, utopian world. “I make only Rs6,000 and that too for a 12-hour shift, with zero benefits... Is that sufficient in these times? I have no choice, but to work two jobs for 24 hours a day. And then, the residents shout at us and sometimes even beat us up for sleeping on the job. But, how can we stay alive and support our families on such wages?” his voice trails off as he gets back to his station.

With pays ranging between Rs3,000 and Rs4,000, most such guards end up working for 24 hours a day through other security agencies. Additionally, they are forced to wash cars in housing societies and run errands for residents, complains Singh.

A resident of a co-operative housing society in Kurla confides that security guards in her building put in 12-hour shifts for Rs5,000. “We have two guards and they work 12 hours a day. Earlier, they used to live in the building. But now, they have moved elsewhere.”

Cover, huh!
Uday Bhatt, president of the Maharashtra Suraksha Rakshak Agadi, a trade union, says as per a notification on minimum wages for security guards issued by the state government on January 1 last year, a security guard should get Rs7,434, including special allowance, daily allowance/house rent allowance, conveyance and washing allowance.

Again, housing societies manage to cut themselves loose from the law. Forget amenities like leave wages, health benefits through the employees’ state insurance corporation and provident fund, “90% of the guards at housing societies are underpaid,” adds Bhatt.

Advocate Vijay Vaidya explains, “Housing societies are not establishments according to the Bombay high court and hence, the minimum wage notification doesn’t apply to them. The agencies want to increase their profit margin and therefore, pay the guards a pittance. There is no forum available to complain. Clearly, the security guard board will never push for setting up such a forum or even amend the Security Guard Board Act as the authorities are busy looking after themselves.”

The Act applies to people who work as security guards in any factory or commercial establishment through agencies but it does not cover direct and regular employees.

Bhatt says only 24,000 guards who have registered themselves with the security guard board are covered under the Act. “But, there are over 2 lakh guards in the city who are working illegally with no benefits. The government machinery is not interested in curbing this problem despite a number of high court rulings.”

Those guards employed by private security agencies who fail to register themselves with the security guard board have to fill a form to seek exemption from the Maharashtra Private Security Guards (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Scheme, 2002, which covers the entire state, with the exception of a few districts, says Bhatt. “The main aim of the Act is to do away with middlemen who take advantage of the guards.”

A top official confirms that employees of housing societies are not able to take advantage of the provisions of the Act. “We can’t entertain their complaints and they will have to approach the labour commissioner. Of course, we require an amendment to help resolve this issue. Essentially, the Security Guard Board Act applies only to factories and commercial establishments. It does not cover housing societies.”

No word on the numbers
Gurcharan Singh, president of the Security Association of India, claims that there are over 2 lakh registered security guards in Mumbai and Thane districts and that 80% of them are employed in factories and commercial establishments where they receive a minimum wage of Rs7,200. “Five percent to 10% of the guards are employed in small-scale industries and 20% are employed in co-operative housing societies. Seventy percent of those employed at housing societies are exploited and are not paid minimum wages. Some of these are also deployed by fly-by-night agencies which bend the rules at will.”

But, the association doesn’t seem to have a finger on the pulse of the situation. If one were to take it at its word, only 40,000 guards are reportedly hired by housing societies. So, assuming that there are two guards to a society — one for the day and another at night — what the association seems to be suggesting is that there are only 20,000 housing societies in Mumbai and Thane. Clearly, that is not the case, which means that the association, the government and the Maharashtra security guards board have not yet even begun to enumerate the number of guards in Mumbai and Thane, let alone in the entire state.