The last two decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century witnessed the decline and eventual closure of large scale industries in Indian cities such as Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kanpur. The closure of large scale industries not only resulted in the dispersal of once organised workforce into the informal sector but also had negative implications for the politics of labour which saw a major decline since the 1970s, and more particularly since the 1980s. Given the closure of large scale industries and the subsequent retrenchment of the workforce what is happening to the politics of the labour that was organised through the trade unions. This question is addressed in this paper by examining the political mobilisation of Mumbai’ ex-millworkers on the rehabilitation question.

"This thesis addresses the central question: how have Mumbai’s ex-millworkers responded to the closure of textile mills? To investigate this question it adopts a mixed methods approach which includes 112 interviews with ex-millworkers, trade union leaders, government officials, social, political and cultural activists, and a survey of 1037 ex-millworkers (924 city based and 113 return migrants). Using this empirical evidence, this thesis focuses on three responses unexplored in the literature on industrial closures and the responses of the retrenched workforce in contemporary India. These themes include first, the fate of the ex-millworkers who returned to the villages, second, the impact of the social identities of various ex-millworkers upon their employment prospects in the post-closure period and third, the emergence of a non-communal, non-nativist, form of political participation among retrenched workers.

The thesis first lays out background to the study by examining the changes that have taken place in the social composition of the workforce and its implications for the working class neighbourhoods, particularly social relations and politics. Following this, it goes on to analyse the phenomenon of return migration: the conditions that led ex-millworkers to opt for return migration, and whether this strategy has ensured their incorporation into the rural milieu. It also tries to understand the political mobilisation of ex-millworkers in rural areas and its implications for their experience of life in the village. Moving towards the city-based ex-millworkers, this thesis looks at the ways in which their occupational choices after the closure of the mills were shaped by social institutions such as caste and religion. Finally, the political mobilisation of the ex-millworkers around the rehabilitation question is the subject of enquiry. This inquiry looks at the interaction of state, labour and capital over the issues of alternative employment and housing for ex-millworkers. 

The thesis makes a strong case for an expanded understanding of ex-millworkers’ experience of post-industrial Mumbai. Millworkers had evolved a complex and unique notion of self-hood connected to the activities of work, leisure and forms of recognition – both political and social – that sprang up around industrial employment. The closure of the mills has, consequently, been more than a mere shrinking of economic opportunities. It has been experienced as a multi-pronged assault upon and refashioning of workers’ identities. Nevertheless, through their protests, ex-millworkers’ efforts to hold onto, and even expand the worker-self continue. The transformation of the landscape of ‘world class’, post-industrial, neo-liberal Mumbai cannot be understood without reference to this contested unmaking of the worker-self."