For getting employed in public sector companies, certain qualifications are essential. The qualifications will be mentioned in the advertisement calling for applications for jobs. Information regarding salary structure, house rent, promotion possibilities, etc. can be obtained.
But for jobs in private companies qualifications are flexible. Salary is not fixed. Employment may be on contract basis. Each company may have its own work culture. Through employment exchanges and advertisements, only a small percentage of people can get employment. Many nd their own jobs. Thus we have many self-employed plumbers, electricians, teachers who give private tuition, architects, free-lance photographers and so on.
Most of them depend on personal relations for their work. Their advertisement is their sincerity, commitment, and expertise in their job. With the coming of the mobile phone, they have been able to establish more contacts and thus get more jobs.
Laborers are recruited into factories in another way. In the past workers were given by contractors or agents. In the cloth mills of Kanpur, these agents were known as ‘Mistries’. A mistry was also a worker. Mysteries came from the same location and same community. But they could behave like the boss of the workers because of the support they got from the owners of the factory. To keep the laborers under check, they used their hold in the community and. other pressure tactics.
Agents (Dallals) have lost their significance. Now it is the Managements and the Unions that decide on employment matters. Many factories now employ temporary’ workers. These temporary’ workers may continue working in the same factory for years. But they are not made permanent. In the organized labor sector this is known as contract work.
