SEWA India provides members with heat wave insurance

Crippling heat waves that swept through south Asia this year posed enormous challenges to working people in the region. Workers who had to labour in sweltering heat were confronted with extremely harsh conditions which had a negative impact on their health, and sometimes even forced them to quit work. A majority of these workers are employed in the informal sector and lack access to social security programmes.

SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) which organizes women workers in the informal sector, including home-based workers in the garment industry and workers engaged in the downstream shipbreaking industry, launched a heat wave insurance programme for its members to mitigate the effects of harsh weather. As part of this pilot insurance programme, the union provided financial assistance to workers so they could use the extra money for their health needs.

Home-based garment workers and downstream shipbreaking workers have to work long hours in rooms without provisions for managing rising temperatures resulting into heatstroke and heat cramps. Under the heat wave insurance programme, SEWA monitored the daily temperature. In urban Ahmedabad, for example, where home-based garment workers are based, when the mercury rose to 43.6 degree Celsius for three consecutive days, the union transferred INR250 (US$3) into these workers' bank accounts. If the temperature remained the same on the fourth day, the workers again received INR250 (US$3). For Bhavnagar, where downstream shipbreaking industry is located, the threshold temperature was 44.68 degree Celsius.

Manali Shah, national secretary of SEWA, says:

"This year, we did a pilot programme and more than 46,000 of our members across 22 districts in three Indian states, received benefits under the programme. This enabled women workers to not compromise on their health without having to choose between protecting their health or feeding their families."

Ashutosh Bhattacharya, south Asia regional secretary of IndustriALL, says:

"We applaud SEWA for taking this initiative and setting an example for other unions and also the government to start thinking on how to safeguard workers' health in the wake of climate change and rising heat across the region."

Photo credit: SEWA