People's Democracy

MUMBAI

Convention against Privatisation, Attacks on Job Security

P R Krishnan

MAHARASHTRA, an important Indian state, and its capital, Mumbai, also called the commercial capital of the country, are among the worst hit places in the country as a result of the ongoing privatisation process under the BJP-led union government. Implementation of the new economic and industrial policies of liberalisation, privatisation, contractisation and corporatisation and the sale of public assets by the Vajpayee government are going on at a high speed. As a result, apart from closure of a majority of the cotton textile mills and powerlooms in the state, almost half of other industrial units --- big, medium or small --- are no more in existence. Increasing unemployment and underemployment have become the order of the day here.

The Maharashtra coalition government of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party is fully supporting this process. To them, the World Bank, IMF, WTO, multinational corporations and the Indian monopoly houses are the best friends and saviours.

It is in this background that a majority of the trade unions came together in Mumbai in last September and formed a committee together with some of the officers’ associations of central government undertakings, to combat the onslaught of privatisation. The committee was named as "Sponsoring Committee of Officers Associations and Trade Unions." The committee decided to hold a convention against the ongoing attacks on public services and job security. Dada Samant (Kamgar Aghadi), P R Krishnan (CITU) and a representative from the National Confederation of Officers Associations of Central Public Sector Undertakings were authorised to act as joint convenors and initiate steps to hold the convention.

It was also decided that, unlike previous conventions in Maharashtra and at the national level, the proposed convention must pay attention to different sectors and the speakers must present papers on the impact of privatisation specifically on 10 different economic and industrial sectors. The sectors selected for the purpose were as below: (1) public sector units under the authority and control of the central government; (2) undertakings under the jurisdiction of state government; (3) private sector; (4) electricity; (5) railways; (6) education; (7) insurance; (8) banking; (9) transport; and (10) the forthcoming WTO conference at Doha, opening on November 9.

The committee made special efforts to see that the convention was a broad-based one. The committee therefore invited leaders of all major trade union organisations in Maharashtra to participate in and present their views at the conference. Those invited were the AITUC, HMS, BMS, HMKP, INTUC and Bhartiya Kamgar Sena.

The convention was held on October 13, at the Central Railway Welfare Hall at Parel in Central Mumbai. It was conducted by a three-member presidium comprising Dr Shanti Patel (dock-workers), K L Bajaj (CITU) and Dada Samant (Kamgar Aghadi). Jayaprakash Bellary of Kamgar Aghadi welcomed the gathering and P R Krishnan introduced the subject before the convention proceedings began.

The speakers who presented papers on sector-wise issues and problems arising due to the impact of privatisation were Ashok Rao of NCOA (public sector), Shyam Mhatre of Sarva Shramik Sangh (state government undertakings), Dr Vivek Monteiro of CITU (electricity), Y G Joshi of NRMU (railways), Dada Samant of Kamgar Aghadi (private sector), A S Deo of LIC employees (insurance), G M V Naik of BEFI and L K Nagda of AIBEA (banking) R P Singh of Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers (central government service), and Sanjay Sanghvi of TUCI (Doha conference). Sadly, despite serious efforts, the AITUC, HMS, HMKP and INTUC sent no representatives to the conference. Krishnakant Kondalekar, spokesman of the Shiv Sena-led Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, did attend the conference and greeted the participants. In this speech, he specifically said that Shiv Sena and its trade union wing (Bharatiya Kamgar Sena) are opposed to the harmful policies of privatisation though they are a part of the coalition government at the centre.

Summing up, it can certainly by said that the papers presented to the conference and the ensuing discussion will go a long way in creating awareness among the people about the impact of privatisation and expose the false claims made by the spokesmen of the WB, IMF, WTO and MNCs and their supporters in India.

A team of activists and office-bearers of the National Railway Mazdoor Union, led by P R Menon and Y G Joshi, made commendable arrangements for the success of the convention.