The brokerage system in the brick kiln industry in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

We have led a survey in brick kilns in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, to study the phenomenon of intermediation in the process of recruiting seasonal migrants who are employed for implementing the production. Henceforth, we show that intermediaries play a central role in this industry by simultaneously coordinating the actions of the supply and demand of labor and credit in the interlinked credit-labor market. The role of brokers in this industry is ambiguous in the sense that they are at the same time close to workers and yet they are subjugated to employers. There are two kinds of brokers: the broker-brokers and the broker-workers. The former have better bargaining power than the later, so they are in a better position to defend their employers' interest than the broker-workers.