A Convention of the Unorganised Workers and Contract Workers organised by the Maharashtra Rajya Sarvashramik Mahasangh held in Pune on 25th April, 2009 at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch was a Grand Success. Over 3,000 workers from unorganised Sector attended the Convention. They came from as far away as Vidarbha, Khandesh, Marathwada, Mumbai, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur and Konkan apart from the City and Suburbs and the District of Pune itself. Retired justice of the Supreme Court Justice Shri P B Sawant inaugurated the Convention.

In his remarks, Justice Shri Sawant spoke about the Constitutional rights of the working people. Com. Medha Thatte then gave a brief speech, outlining the objectives of the Convention. She said they were opposed to the false debate about the organised Sector workers being responsible for the fate of the unorganised. She asserted that it is the organised and unorganised workers, who together organised this Convention. The Convention demanded implementation of the recommendations of the Arjun Sengupta Commission as also what the standing Committee of Parliament recommended - including setting aside at least 6% of GDP for unorganised workers through a proper and reliable delivery system.

Com. R.N.Thakur, leader of the Landless Labourers and Construction Workers Association from Patna, Bihar, then narrated the struggles against feudal conditions of the dalit workers in Bihar, struggles in the course of which he had been jailed for seven years. As a result of those struggles, he said, dalits had won a measure of dignity and confidence. He also narrated the four points he had raised in the Indian Labour Conference recently held in Delhi, such as prohibiting contract workers being used against permanent vacancies etc.