People's Democracy

Tamilnadu Strike Issue Rocks SLC Meeting

P K Ganguly

ALL the central trade union organisations that participated in the meeting of the Standing Labour Committee (SLC), held at Vigyan Bhawan on July 25, raised their voice of protest against the unprecedented victimisation of state government employees by the Jayalalitha government in Tamilnadu.

One day before the SLC meeting, the central trade union organisations had met at the HMS office and decided that they would raise their voice of protest and try to get a resolution adopted in the SLC, condemning the Tamilnadu government and demanding unconditional reinstatement of all the employees.  All the trade unions had also expressed serious concern over the extremely adverse judgement of the Supreme Court, which went against trade union rights and strengthened the hands of the reactionary forces. Although the INTUC and BMS were not present in the meeting held at the HMS office, they were informed of the decision and they did not oppose. The dinner given by the labour minister to the trade union delegates on the eve of the SLC failed to change the decisions of the trade unions.

Accordingly, on July 25, immediately after the welcome address by the labour secretary as per earlier decisions, AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta stood up and wanted to raise the issue. Smelling trouble, both the labour minister and labour secretary tried to stop him. The labour secretary even rushed to the mike to stop him and announced that the labour minister would inaugurate the meeting. But, then, CITU secretary P K Ganguly stood up and demanded that Gurudas Dasgupta should be allowed to read out the resolution as the matter was extremely serious for workers and employees. Arguments followed with gradual generation of heat.

In a loud voice, then, the labour minister said “this was not the forum to raise it, as it was a matter for the state government. Besides, the central government could not be a party to such a resolution, nor could be the employers.” Ganguly said in an equally loud voice that “for the trade unions this was the only top forum where such serious matters concerning labour can be raised. Besides, labour was a concurrent subject, so the central government cannot evade it. The central government’s attitude is of course exposed. Both the minister and his secretary are desperately trying to gag the voice of labour. The trade unions cannot accept this.”

To avoid total disruption of the SLC agenda, Ganguly then urged upon the labour minister to allow that the resolution be read out. HMS general secretary Umraomal Purohit also stood up and urged the same. The labour minister had to then give in and Gurudas Dasgupta read out the resolution.

NATIONAL CONVENTION ON RIGHT TO STRIKE

Though the INTUC and BMS did not speak out during the above episode that continued for about an hour, they did not oppose as per earlier understanding. Rather, in their turn, they raised the point in their speeches on the actual agenda. Apart from the CITU and AITUC again, other trade unions like the UTUC and UTUC(LS) condemned the Tamilnadu government.

All the trade unions agreed on holding a national convention on the right to strike. INTUC president Sanjeev Reddy also signed the joint statement. Now the trade unions will meet and decide the date of the convention, to be held at Delhi some time in September.

DECISIONS OF THE SLC

The other two points on the SLC agenda were a discussion on the action taken report (ATR) of the last Indian Labour Conference (ILC) and finalisation of the agenda for the next ILC.

As usual, the government could not escape facing criticism from trade unions on the ATR. The trade unions concentrated their offensive particularly on the serious aggravation of the unemployment situation. They were also agitated on the draft bill on unorganised sector workers, which did not accept either the recommendations of the study group of the National Commission on Labour or the unanimous conclusions of the national seminar. The CITU and AITUC, in particular, further grilled the labour minister, as he wanted to introduce the bill in the present monsoon session itself without having clinched the issues with the trade unions.

Ultimately he agreed on the following three agendas for the next Indian Labour Conference to be held in the first half of September:

1) Bill on unorganised sector workers,

2) Employment generation, and

3) Social security.

The next ILC will discuss a note prepared by Dr S P Gupta, member of the Planning Commission, on employment generation during the 10th plan period. The note will be circulated among the trade unions in advance.