THE INEQUALITY BENEATH INDIA’S
Executive Summary As India’s wealth increases, the gap between rich and poor is also on the rise. According to the Hindustan Times, the five million private security personnel in India today outnumber the army, navy, air force, police and the Central Bureau of Investigation put together. The industry generates a million new jobs a year. Security guards working for G4S—one of the largest private sector employers in India, are among those at the bottom of the income scale. These workers barely eke out a living while their UK-based multinational employer—the second largest in the world—earns hundreds of millions in profits. Research in three Indian cities—Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta—revealed the following: • G4S workers are paid poverty wages – not enough to raise a family. G4S pays the bare legal minimum – and in some cases pays less than the minimum required for annual bonuses and other benefits. • G4S underpays workers’ overtime. The company does not pay the double rate required for the four hours of overtime put in by many workers. G4S workers often work six or seven days a week, twelve hours a day. • G4S uses creative accounting to short-change workers’ pensions, leaving retired workers without adequate funds. • G4S workers have no job security, no contracts, and no guarantees. Workers’ employment is contingent on whether clients continue their contracts with G4S; therefore, workers can be fired at any time. Most G4S workers do not have contracts that state the terms of their employment, making it impossible for them to hold the company accountable. • G4S abuses workers’ rights and retaliates against workers who speak out against unfair treatment,repeatedly firing workers who point out that they are being underpaid or not receiving their deserved benefits. • G4S workers report a daily routine of poor working conditions and humiliation. G4S should remedy these conditions in India and around the world. Workers in India and around the world are demanding justice, but G4S isn’t listening. The global campaign for justice at G4S continues. It’s time for the company to treat its workers fairly in India and to sign a global agreement to raise standards for its workforce around the world.