(This article was written while working as an India Fellow at Aajeevika Bureau, where I engaged in conversations with steelworkers in Jodhpur about occupational safety, hazard, and their overall health.)
The recent death of Anna Sebastian, an EY India employee, has reignited discussions about the mental toll of high-stress workplaces. Although her case is relevant to understand the pressures of working in a white-collar industry, it also underscores the often-overlooked mental health struggles of workers in informal workplaces in India. In industries like steel manufacturing, these workers toil for long 12 hour shifts, in poor working conditions, and their concerns are barely heard, let alone being highlighted in news cycles.
12-Hour Shifts And Mental Toll
Many steelworkers remain at work for 12 hours a day, leaving them physically exhausted and mentally drained. While corporate employees can sometimes enjoy wellness programs, or even take days off as ‘sick’ leave, the workers in the steel industry seldom have that privilege. To them, leaving any day of work unused amounts to a starvation scenario since they need an income every day to survive. Missing a single shift could mean losing out on critical wages needed to support their families. As a result, their mental health takes a backseat to their immediate economic needs.
In conversations with workers, many express a shared sentiment: “Mazdoor zinda lash hai (the worker is a living corpse)”. For them, the idea of mental health is in a different sphere altogether, almost irrelevant in their everyday vocabulary. What is important is to stay alive, and staying alive in large part depends on their capacity to work each and every day. In a scenario when the next school fees of his daughter is due at the end of the month, a discussion on mental health takes a backseat.
Harsh Work Conditions: More Than Just Physical Strain
The physical work environment in the steel industry is brutal. Workers are exposed to extreme heat, dangerous machinery, and toxic fumes, often without adequate safety equipment. Accidents and injuries are common, and while the physical toll is noticeable, the psychological effects of working in such environments are rarely discussed.
Constantly being on high alert to avoid accidents or handle the demands of the machinery contributes to chronic stress.
The physical work environment in the steel industry is extreme. Workers work under extremely high temperatures, with a real possibility of getting in contact with dangerous machines, or toxic gasses. Injuries are inevitable, and although the impact on muscles, bones, joints etc. is apparent with a broken hand or missing fingers, being markers of their grueling work, the similar impact on the psychological health of the workers is less known or observed.
There’s also an added burden in knowing that any injury could entail serious financial consequences. For instance, if a worker is injured he cannot work for several days, weeks and sometimes even months, resulting in loss of earning. This ever present fear has an added layer of pressure to an already high-stress job. Also, the constant exposure to dangerous machines, leads workers to assess their own heightened stress and mental pressure as everyday norms. Many of them don’t understand that – sleepless nights, irritability, feeling of hopelessness, etc., are manifested by hard working conditions. This becomes their reality in the long run, and they gloss over the fact that their mental health is suffering.
The Sacrifice Of Family Time
Work related hours cut down time spent with family and loved ones. Workers get to work before their children wake up from bed and come back when the children are already asleep. This unfortunate cycle affects family ties, hence making meaningful interaction between family members a cherished dream. This aloofness from family can deepen feelings of isolation and contribute to poor mental health. It is important to note here, that this is the situation with workers who have a family near their workplace, the story of migrant workers leaving their home in search of better wages is completely different.
Lack of family time also reduces the coping mechanism that is otherwise a necessity for a worker toiling hard for 12 hours a day. Family is known to be a source of encouragement, but the working class is denied the time to be amongst their family. They are not only bereft of an important source of comfort, but are forced to work in an economic structure that demands more and more labor from their emaciated bodies. According to many workers I talked to, after having been at work all day, they feel helpless about not being able to spend time with their families, but they say they don’t have any other option.
The impact of this is two-fold: not only do the workers start getting distanced from their families but even the families begin to experience emotional strain. Wives find themselves under pressure to manage the household alone, while children may grow up feeling distant from their parents. The ripple effects of these strained relationships can have long-term consequences for both the workers and their family members.
Lack Of Sleep And Chronic Irritation
While talking to steelworkers, lack of sleep was one of the most common points that came up while having a conversation on their overall health. They are often under pressure in their factories, due to the constant demand for an increase in the production level, leading to work hours being extended to 14 hours on some days, which doesn’t allow them to have adequate sleep for recovery. Not having enough sleep also results in poor health, irritability, poor concentration, frequent mood swings, among other issues. Many workers reported that they easily get irritated with their families often leading to disagreements at home.
This lack of sleep also impairs their ability to perform their jobs effectively, which can lead to mistakes and, in a dangerous work environment, accidents. This, in turn, creates a vicious cycle where workers become even more stressed and anxious about their performance, further diminishing their mental health.
Labor, Machines, And Alienation
Alienation, when looked at from an economic (read capitalist) standpoint, in simple terms can be understood as the separation of the worker from the means of production (different machines in the context of the steel industry). Workers do not own the means which are necessary to produce the end product. Instead, a select few number own the means of production. This select few constitute the ruling class, who have complete control over the production process, from deciding which worker will operate on which machine, to how much a worker will earn. The bargaining power of a worker in such a set-up is null and void.
For Marx, alienation is more than just a subjective state, even though it can be experienced, understood, and even resisted. Alienation is the objective structure of experience and activity in capitalist society. Without it, capitalist society cannot exist. The relationship between workers and the machines they operate is central to their experience of alienation. According to Marx’s theory of alienation, laborers become estranged from the product of their labor, from the process of work, from their fellow workers, and from their own humanity. This theory is painfully relevant for the steel industry.
Steelworkers are reduced to mere cogs in a machine, constrained to simply repeat the same motion over and over again with no connection to the end product they are producing.
The work becomes monotonous and meaningless, contributing to a sense of disconnection from their work. This alienation is intensified by the fact that workers are often isolated from one another. While they may work in the same factory, the nature of their tasks often prevents them from forming meaningful relationships with their colleagues. The result is a profound sense of loneliness, which further exacerbates their mental health struggles.
Stigma Surrounding Mental Health
Mental health is a taboo topic for workers employed in the steel industry. Workers believe that admitting to mental health issues is a sign of weakness. Such stigma prevents them from seeking assistance. In most cases, the workers facing serious mental health issues, end up developing habits such as alcoholism and smoking which actually worsens their situation.
There is also a significant lack of mental health resources available to steelworkers. Unlike white-collar employees who may have access to counseling services or mental health workshops, workers in the steel industry have no such support. This gap in resources leaves workers to fend for themselves, often suffering in silence.
Addressing The Mental Health Crisis In The Steel Industry
Anna Sebastian’s death has brought attention to the need to talk about mental health struggles in high-stress workplaces, but the sufferings of steelworkers, and more broadly, migrant workers employed in the informal sector, are still unknown to the world. These workers are battered with long working hours, poor working conditions and deplorable living conditions. Their struggles are compounded by societal stigma and a lack of resources, leaving them trapped in a cycle of stress and alienation.
The need for mental health support, therefore means that industries such as steel must place this issue as one of their main agendas. This could encompass having legally mandated working hours, stronger occupational protection and the availability of psychological services like therapy. If these changes are not addressed, workers will be condemned to endure pain, their psychological state will continue to decline, exhausting their abilities in order to barely exist. It is imperative that we recognize that mental health is not a luxury or optional good. It is a basic human need of workers, that must be met.
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