Kochi: A new trend has emerged on social media with employees of private companies, who are not under any trade unions, using Facebook as a medium to raise their voice against managements.
Facebook was recently hit with several such protests and struggles which gained considerable public support.
Last week, thousands of users registered their pro-tests against a textile shop urging fellow users to boycott the product. The protesters asked the shop owners to address the issues of employees, especially women.
Meanwhile, another set of protesters sought government intervention to stop a jeweller setting up his plant in Kerala, which they call, is hazardous to human health.
The users trended a hash tag in Malayalam ‘ini avar irikkatte’ (Let them sit now) supporting the sales girls across the state working in popular textile showrooms. The hash tag became viral and several persons who joined the debate expressed their views on the subject.
A section of sales girls had staged a demonstration in Kozhikode for permission to relax a bit during their working hours. At present several retail outlets of jewellers and textile shops are strictly ordering sales girls to stand in the showrooms throughout the day. Shop owners are also restricting their lunchtime to 20 minutes and are imposing a fine if a sales girl fails to turn up for work in time after having her lunch.
A sales girl of one such shops said that they were finding it hard to cope with the work pressure. Most of them were hit by health issues due to standing for long periods of time. Two years ago, the nurses of the state had trended their wage demands successfully.
Though the recent struggle had received big support, its outcome is yet to be known.
