The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers in Kerala are now on the path to unionisation. In all the 14 districts of the state, these workers have formed some kind of union. Seven district units of Grameena Tozhilurappu Tozhilali Congress (Rural Employment Guarantee Workers` Congress) have registered themselves with the Registrar of Trade Unions. Initially, there was some confusion because the Registrar of Trade Unions did not consider the MGNREGS workers as falling within the purview of trade unions. Currently, the Grameena Tozhilurappu Tozhilali Congress is affiliated to Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the labour wing of the Congress party, and claims a membership of over 50,000.

According to media reports, these unions have already begun demanding 150 work days (up from the present 100) at the rate of Rs 150 per day (up from Rs 125). The forming of these unions is sure to have a positive effect on the morale of the workers and can be expected to play a vital role in curbing corruption and leakages in MGNREGS. These unions will also ensure that the workers get their full quota of work days and that the money does not end up in the coffers of middlemen or corrupt officials.

The rural workers in Kerala are already organised. Panchayati Raj institutions, which are central to the implementation of MGNREGS, are very developed and active there. This has been instrumental for the workers under MGNREGS to form unions to protect their rights as well as to demand better pay and more job days. The workers are all geared up to check the corruption that has surfaced in states such as Jharkhand, in relation to MGNREGS.

Workers in the other states have also formed unions of MNREGS workers. Villagers in Bajesar, Nimbada and Dungla blocks of Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, have formed a union called Rojgar Guarantee Majdoor Union of Chittorgarh and have also been able to get it registered.