The Centre for Labour Research and Action (CLRA) is committed to promoting the rights and entitlements of migrant workers in India's vast informal sector economy. CLRA has helped hundreds of thousands of informal workers access their labour and human rights through innovative action research, building awareness and capacities of grassroots leaders along with persistent policy advocacy over the past 16 years. The Centre generates knowledge by documenting the working and living conditions of informal workers, nurtures leadership by enabling them to articulate their demands, and undertakes policy advocacy with the state. Adopting an alternative paradigm of empowering-collectivising-organising informal workers, the Centre takes into account their constant movement along the migration stream, the critical role played by middlemen, and the nature of the production and labour processes involved. Through the years CLRA has worked across various migration streams in a collaborative manner: Agricultural workers across Gujarat {including Sugarcane Harvesters (South Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra), Wage-sharecroppers, Vineyard workers, Cottonseed farms of North Gujarat) the cotton ginning industry in Central and North Gujarat, Construction workers in Central and South Gujarat, textile workers (Surat), factory and industrial workers (Central Gujarat), and the brick kiln industry in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Telangana. The Centre’s efforts have brought about large-scale industrial change, leading to hikes in wages, signing of collective wage agreements, and reduction in exploitative practices like debt bondage and child labour. CLRA’s strategies have proven effective in assisting migrant workers across informal sectors to realise their rights and entitlements.
