People's Democracy

 Defeat Attack On Right To Strike: CITU

Following is the statement released by the CITU secretariat immediately after the judgment of the Supreme Court on Tamilnadu government employees strike:

THE CITU expresses serious concern at the blatant anti-worker judgment of the Supreme Court of India imposing a blanket ban on “Right to strike”. The judgment has hit at the fundamental democratic right of the toiling people of the country. Even it (the judgment) has grossly negated the statutory provision in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 providing legal right of the working class to go on strike.

It is unfortunate that while expressing opinion on effect of strikes, the judgment is shockingly silent on the causes which creates compulsion for the working class movement to go on strike as a last resort. The government of the day at the centre is considering the question of amendment of labour laws. The trade union movement of the country has taken concrete position opposing such move. But the Supreme Court judgment has apparently gone beyond its scope and entered the domain of the legislature. The judgment is contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed in the in the Constitution of India. It also contravenes the concerned ILO Conventions to which Indian is a party.

The right to strike has been realised by the trade union movement through protracted, bitter struggles at the cost of the lives of the martyrs. A basic right attained through struggles shall have to be protected with still bitter struggles.

It is high time that the working class movement of the country must recognise that the regime of imperialist globalisation is in effect anti-democratic as well. Such regime obviously influences the state apparatus too. Therefore, the fight against imperialist globalisation is necessarily the fight to defend national sovereignty and democracy.

The CITU recognises it as an extraordinary challenging situation, reaffirms its commitment for launching nationwide united movement against all the anti-worker measures of the state apparatus. The retrograde judgment has imposed a situation confronted by the working class during the dark days of emergency. CITU invites the entire trade union movement to take due initiative to address the situation unitedly and appeals to the working class to rise to the occasion.