Rickshaw drivers are getting organised

(July 2004)

Article published in Trade Union World n°5, , also available at http://www.icftu.org/www/pdf/Dossier5-04bangladeshE.pdf

Though rickshaws are one of the most popular forms of transport in Bangladesh their drivers are looked down on in society. They are trying to improve their rights by forming a union.  

This is one of the toughest jobs in the world. Every day in Dhaka, 500,000 drivers of non-motorised rickshaws (1) pedal through the tremendous pollution, heat, congested traffic and continual noise from hooters. Under leaden skies or tropical rain storms, they carve out routes for their passengers though the Bangladeshi capital, zigzagging between motorised rickshaws, cars, buses and lorries, which show no pity to these “traffic slowers”. On average, each day 2% of these drivers having an accident, some of which are minor (e.g. small collisions with motorised rickshaws), whilst others are more serious (e.g. overturned or destroyed rickshaws) or even fatal.

Most of these brave drivers come from rural parts of Bangladesh, having left their homes to “try their luck” in Dhaka, where life is supposed to be less poor than in the countryside. They live in the capital’s slum areas and often share a “room” in groups of ten or twenty for 1,000 takas (roughly 16 dollars) per month. They have formed a union, the Jatio Rickshaw Sramik League (affiliated to the International Transport Workers' Federation). The drivers pay 10 takas to join up and are then supposed to pay 5 takas a month to stay members. One of the main benefits offered by the union is its liaison with doctors and payment of 3 doctors’ bills per member up to a maximum of 10,000 takas (160 dollars) for the three visits. In Dhaka alone, 100,000 people have joined the union.

Assistance with medical fees is a valuable benefit, since illnesses such as asthma and tuberculosis, as well as those resulting from malnutrition are very common amongst the drivers of pedal-drawn rickshaws. They are very poor and would have no hope of getting proper care without that assistance. Azakar Ali, director of the Jatio Rickshaw Sramik League (JRSL), knows his members’ situation very well, since he did the job himself for 21 years: “they rent an old rickshaw for 40 takas (about 60 US cents) per day, whilst the new machines, which have fewer mechanical problems, cost 70 takas per day to rent. They rarely earn more than 80 or 100 takas per day, which leaves them very small profits for buying food, paying rent, etc. It’s very tough and as there are many people wanting to drive the rickshaws available for hire, many have to share the cost with others, with the first having it from 6am to 2pm and the second from 2pm till midnight, for instance”. 

            A licence to restrict police harassment

The JRSL has been trying to stand up for its members’ interests with the authorities, particularly since the city of Dhaka wants to ban pedal-drawn rickshaws from some main roads in order to ease the traffic. It is also trying to get the authorities to increase the number of licences granted to rickshaw drivers: “at the moment the number is limited to 80,000 though there are 500,000 drivers,” states Azakar Ali. “A licence costs 250 takas per year, but the authorities have not granted any for over 10 years now, in the hope of reducing traffic congestion”. Some close relations of deceased drivers have sold licences in order to earn a little cash. With a licence you have a chance of escaping police harassment, since the police are quick to confiscate the rickshaws of drivers without that document or to ask them for large bribes. Pedal-drawn rickshaw drivers are real pariahs in Bangladeshi towns and are regularly subjected to hefty, arbitrary beatings by the police’s batons, with no chance of legal recourse afterwards.  

Given the physical strength needed to pedal the rickshaws, it is unusual to see drivers under 18 years old, though there is no upper age limit for stopping. Since it is impossible to save anything much, some Dhaka drivers carry on pedalling till they die. Every day, old men wear out their lungs driving their passengers through the pollution and crazy traffic of the capital city. “Most pedal-drawn rickshaw drivers dream of renting a motorised rickshaw, owing their own rickshaw (though that costs 7,500 takas), or else finding another job”, observes Azakar Ali. “But since they do not have enough money to eat properly their projects generally remain dreams. So they carry on pedalling, despite the humiliation of being looked down on by Bangladeshis despite the toughness of their jobs. There is no contentment to be had from such work. When I received the few takas from my passengers I had to rest a bit before setting off again. You are sweating, exhausted and demoralised by the pittance you are paid. I felt really bad about earning so little after making such an effort”.

                                                                                          Samuel Grumiau

(1) Passenger vehicle pulled by a bicycle.