Help crematorium workers in India survive COVID
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As India grapples with the largest COVID outbreak in the world , bodies are piling up faster than crematorium workers can handle. Oxygen and ICU bed shortages are wiping out entire families, and crematorium workers are bearing the brunt of it all. They're working back-to-back shifts and inhaling noxious cremation smoke wearing little or no PPE. A damning report by Yashee Singh for national newspaper Indian Express details the horrific conditions crematorium workers have endured during this disaster.
Crematorium workers, many of whom belong to impoverished Dalit ('untouchable' caste) and Muslim communities, are clocking 16 hour shifts each day in 100 degree weather. The workers are not paid any overtime or hazard pay despite taking on this life-threatening work. They're only making $5/day, their regular salary during non-COVID times, despite longer shifts and hazardous work conditions. It is a labor atrocity!
As a South Asian organizer, I'm raising money to supplement the income of cremation workers in India so they can survive the crisis. I have teamed up with concerned journalists, lawyers, social workers and community organizers in Calcutta, New Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore to distribute the funds directly to workers. I am trying to raise at least $100 for each worker so they can afford food, health insurance, medications, and drinking water to survive.
Individual organizers who have pre-existing relationships with crematorium workers in their cities have agreed to volunteer their time to distribute the funds. I plan to transfer funds to the lead organizer in every city. The lead organizer and their team of 2-3 volunteers will then directly hand the funds to workers so they can purchase health insurance (Arogya Sanjeevani public health insurance costs ~$55/year), medicines, clothes, food or other urgent family needs. Part of the funds will also be used to purchase and deliver hot meals for workers at their work-sites. The breakdown of funds is as follows: $34,000 distributed to workers, $1500 for meals, $500 other misc expenses.
No one deserves to be exploited and subjected to inhumane working conditions during a crisis. With the absence of social safety nets, cremation workers urgently need your support to survive the pandemic. Please donate generously, your kindness will help save the workers' lives.
Love and Solidarity,
Raya Steier
Pronouns: They/Them
Community Organizer in San Francisco, CA
Crematorium workers, many of whom belong to impoverished Dalit ('untouchable' caste) and Muslim communities, are clocking 16 hour shifts each day in 100 degree weather. The workers are not paid any overtime or hazard pay despite taking on this life-threatening work. They're only making $5/day, their regular salary during non-COVID times, despite longer shifts and hazardous work conditions. It is a labor atrocity!
As a South Asian organizer, I'm raising money to supplement the income of cremation workers in India so they can survive the crisis. I have teamed up with concerned journalists, lawyers, social workers and community organizers in Calcutta, New Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore to distribute the funds directly to workers. I am trying to raise at least $100 for each worker so they can afford food, health insurance, medications, and drinking water to survive.
Individual organizers who have pre-existing relationships with crematorium workers in their cities have agreed to volunteer their time to distribute the funds. I plan to transfer funds to the lead organizer in every city. The lead organizer and their team of 2-3 volunteers will then directly hand the funds to workers so they can purchase health insurance (Arogya Sanjeevani public health insurance costs ~$55/year), medicines, clothes, food or other urgent family needs. Part of the funds will also be used to purchase and deliver hot meals for workers at their work-sites. The breakdown of funds is as follows: $34,000 distributed to workers, $1500 for meals, $500 other misc expenses.
No one deserves to be exploited and subjected to inhumane working conditions during a crisis. With the absence of social safety nets, cremation workers urgently need your support to survive the pandemic. Please donate generously, your kindness will help save the workers' lives.
Love and Solidarity,
Raya Steier
Pronouns: They/Them
Community Organizer in San Francisco, CA
Organizer
Raya Steier
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
