Just as Amul symbolises milk and dairy products, Uralungal does labour contracts and construction. It is an eponym for the Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS), which had its humble origins with 16 members at Uralungal village near Vadakara in Kerala’s Kozhikode district in the early 20th century. Today, it is the second-largest workers’ cooperative in the world and the largest of its kind in Asia. Having over 18,000 direct employees and generating employment for many more indirectly, it is the fourth largest job provider in Kerala, after the State government, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, and the Kerala State Electricity Board. On February 13 this year, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the year-long centenary celebrations of this “people’s alternative” to today’s “capitalist, corporate development model”.
Uralungal Society was forged in the crucible of social and political movements at the turn of the 20th century. Before the reorganisation of States in 1956, the present-day Uralungal and its surrounding areas were part of Malabar—the most populous district in the erstwhile Madras State. British archival records show that Nairs constituted the landholding caste in Malabar; the Thiyyas, who formed 87 per cent of the population, held only 6 per cent of the land. Customary land rights in the feudal structure offered them limited economic opportunities, and caste discrimination erected social walls around them.
The nationalist movement and Renaissance that swept through parts of the country brought winds of change. The ideals of equality, fraternity, and liberty, and global events like the Russian Revolution, spurred an attitudinal change in society. Colonial interventions, particularly in establishing schools and industries, blurred caste barriers. Publications such as Rajyasamacharam, the first Malayalam journal in Kerala published in June 1847 by Hermann Gundert, and Mithavadi, which was instrumental in pioneering tenant agitations in Malabar, helped shape a vision in fighting caste discrimination.
Response to social ostracisation
The progressive ideas took an organisational form in the 1920s with the establishment of the Atmavidya Sangham, inspired by the social reformer Guru Vagbhatananda. But defying caste norms came at a heavy price: social ostracisation of its members from upper caste-run schools and agriculture work.
In response to this social ban, they formed the Uralungal Ikkya Nanaya Sangham (UINS), or the United Credit Cooperative Society, in 1922. One of the first decisions of the UINS was to provide loans to those who had been thrown out of agricultural work. For many of them, the options were weaving or fishing. According to T.K. Soman, who has chronicled the history of ULCCS by meticulously examining the minutes over the years, the first person to take a loan from the UINS was Muthirayil Chammanan, of Rs.10.
Two years later, in 1924, the cooperative society was established to provide its members “with means of life and labour with dignity and stability, which were denied by the upper castes”, as the ULCCS website says. On February 13, 1925, the Uralungal Labourers’ Mutual Aid and Cooperative Society was registered; it was renamed ULCCS later.
Three generations of workers (L-R, Benjamin, Kanaran C.K., and Divakaran K.K.) of the ULCCS at the organisation’s headquarters in Vadakara. ULCCS has a reputation for fostering a familial environment among employees. | Photo Credit: RAMESH KURUP S
All the founding members—including the first president, Chappayil Kuniyekku Gurukkal—were workers. As T.M. Thomas Isaac and Michelle Williams say in Building Alternatives: The Story of India’s Oldest Construction Workers’ Cooperative, published in 2020, “Even though the Cooperative was registered under the Cooperative Act legislated by the British, its formation was clearly an initiative from below.”
Initial work was modest: rebuilding farmland bunds destroyed in the 1924 flood and building pathways that linked north Malabar villages with the Madras Province. Eventually, ULCCS shifted to construction work. With perseverance and strategy, it overcame competition from established contractors and earned the recognition of the Public Works Department.
Trust and loyalty were the building blocks of ULCCS. When it faced a financial crunch while submitting tenders, individuals pitched in with anything from 25 paise to Rs.100. These were returned with interest on completion of the project. Some of them even pledged their land deeds to secure a loan to support the society.
To address the issue of insufficient working capital, the society turned to institutional finance. It bought shares in the Malabar Central Cooperative Bank, which helped it to get loans from the bank. Currently, it has a unique fund mobilisation model, securing loans from a consortium of cooperatives. The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) has recognised it for its development model for ensuring quality and providing skills. In 2013, the UN made a documentary on the ULCCS.
Post-Independence journey
In the post-Independence era, ULCSS embarked on a journey towards self-sufficiency with the construction of roads and bridges. Today it boasts 7,500 projects and an annual turnover of over Rs.2,000 crore. In the State, ULCCS has got patronage from successive ruling parties across the political spectrum. Recently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) gave ULCCS a project worth Rs.1,700 crore to develop the stretch from Thalapady to Chengala on NH-17.
“ULCCS is an agency impeccable in the timely completion of projects. Time and cost overruns, the two necessary evils in project execution, do not haunt them. They care for quality very religiously. This cooperative is run on professional lines, totally,” says B. Ramachandran Nair, who retired as director at the National Cooperative Development Corporation and was with the Union Ministry of Cooperation earlier. In his career spanning 38 years at the national level and field levels, he says, “his encounter with ULCCS is the most memorable and meaningful”.
ULCCS owes its success to participatory democracy. Workers elect the board of directors, and site leaders are chosen from among the workers based on managerial ability. Each worksite is overseen by a board member. At the end of each working day, the director board evaluates that day’s work. “Every project is on the radar of the board of directors at every moment. This is one institution that has a daily review of projects by the board chairman with members,” says Ramachandran Nair.
“ULCCS is an essay on cooperative values and best cooperative practices,” he says. “From humble beginnings it has expanded into enviable and unparalleled realms. It is now one of the most notable nation-builders like the NHAI and other agencies.”
“ULCCS is an early adapter of technology. But technology is used to facilitate work, not replace workers.”
Apart from its office complex in the State capital of Thiruvananthapuram, it has to its credit various notable projects, such as the UL Cyber Park, the Sargaalaya Arts and Crafts Village, the ULCCS Charitable & Welfare Foundation, the UL Technology Solutions, a material research and testing lab, and more.
“They know the value of selective diversification. From a basic infrastructure building activity, they made a grand horizontal diversification into owning cyber park infrastructure, which was not only adventurous but unimaginable. A construction agency owning a quarry with enormous rock deposits has a great advantage over its counterparts,” Ramachandran Nair says.
Balancing technology and the ‘human face’
ULCCS is an early adapter of technology. But technology is used to facilitate work, not replace workers. Workers are transformed into technicians with skill development programmes.
However, it is “the human face that pervades every walk of its activity” that characterises ULCCS. In its early years, the society even arranged credit for its workers at local grocery stores when payments were difficult to get. “They are good paymasters, even when their principals default in settling claims. Workers are provided with camp accommodation and nutritious food. They get two annual bonuses, overtime pay, and insurance benefits. The HRD practices include insulating workers from addiction and substance abuse,” says Ramachandran Nair.
ULCCS also runs centres such as UL Care Nayanar Sadanam for vocational training for intellectually challenged adults, UL Care Madithattu for engaging senior citizens during the daytime, and UL Care Sargasheshi for intellectually challenged women, exemplifying its commitment to its employees and the community at large. It also provides scholarships to meritorious children of workers at every level of their studies.
According to Isaac and Williams, “deep political commitment to egalitarianism, workers’ welfare and social progress without ever displaying narrow political party sectarianism accounts for the success of the society”.
In the post-Independence era, ULCSS embarked on a journey towards self-sufficiency with the construction of roads and bridges. | Photo Credit: By Special Arrangement
Maliyodu Kuniyil Damu’s career journey epitomises the ethos of egalitarianism. Starting as a worker in 1954, when the organisation had just 28 workers, he became a director in 1988. “ULCCS is my organisation and life,” he affirms. “It has provided me with everything I need for sustenance, and I will remain true to its ideals till my final breath.” At 79, he continues to oversee work.
ULCCS fosters a familial environment among employees. Punathil Shanta, 72, still chooses to work. She started to work at the age of 12, breaking and loading stones. She fondly recalls how Paleri Kanaran, the former chairman of ULCCS, actively participated in the work alongside them.
“We are part of a family. From the chairman to the directors and workers, everyone thinks alike,” says Bajeesh Kumar M., who has been working as a manager in the vehicle machinery unit for 20 years.
Abhilash P.K. began working as a labourer at ULCCS in 2005 after his mother’s death disrupted his plans to work in the Gulf. He moved to the accounts department six years ago and now leads the team. Sabin Nazeer was part of a handful of mechanical engineers for bridge fabrication when he joined it soon after his BTech. Today he is one among the 500 mechanical engineers at ULCCS. He credits the organisation for providing unwavering support throughout his career.
Commitment to equality
ULCCS is steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality too. In the 1980s, thanks to Manikamma, who argued that if India could have a female Prime Minister, why should women be denied membership in ULCCS, it changed the bylaws to allow women to become A Class members.
Membership in ULCCS is classified into A, B, C, and D classes. The original members with share capitals are denoted as A Class members. Starting with 16 members, the society had 2,000 members by 2016.
The government’s shares are categorised as B Class; recently, the Kerala government filed an affidavit in court that it has 82 per cent of the shares. C Class members are mostly migrant labourers with one share per member. This became necessary because of a shortage of labour caused by the migration of workers from Kerala to the Gulf region. There are over 200 of them. Deposit holders from whom the society receives fixed deposits are called D Class members.
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According to the Economic Review 2023, State Planning Board, Government of Kerala, there are 16,352 cooperative societies in the State, of which 12,241 are functional. Among them, the majority are consumer cooperatives (4,629) followed by credit cooperatives (3,751) and women’s cooperatives (1,248).
ULCCS operates in a non-credit manner. “This approach was adopted from its early stages and was strengthened on the basis of UNDP-guided visits to Italy and Spain, which host the world’s best cooperatives. Our team visited well-known cooperatives in the Spanish city of Mondragon where the cooperative model is adopted for a wide range of industries,” the ULCCS website proclaims. “The excellence of this model leads ULCCS to sustainable development. It is a model for other labour contract societies in Kerala to emulate.”
Soman believes that ULCCS can serve as a model for cooperatives not just in Kerala or India, but in the world, with its unique labour processes, membership categories, ownership, modernisation, and diversification. Soman is a former labourer who became a schoolteacher with the support of ULCCS. Post-retirement, he has taken it upon himself to educate younger workers about “ULCCS’s long history of resisting social inequality, discrimination, and oppression of the caste-feudal forces in this area” and of its stand against neoliberal ideology and politics.
Isaac and Williams note how mainstream economists argue that it is very difficult for a cooperative to survive and prosper. If at all it survives, they say, it will lose its lofty principles of worker control and worker ownership. “It is against these arguments that the actual performances of worker cooperatives such as ULCCS stand out as beacons of inspiration and as experiences that can yield valuable lessons for future practice,” they sum up.
Sasikumar V.K. is assistant professor at the School of Technology, Woxsen University, Hyderabad.
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