Employees, Workers Can’t Forego Right To Strike

Sukomal Sen

LONG back, in his celebrated work State and Revolution, Lenin explicitly pointed out how the bourgeois state nurtures an inherent class hatred for the working class. This class hatred becomes more and more prominent and violent whenever the bourgeois state is faced with any challenge from the working class against its exploitative designs. 

Lenin further explained that the bourgeoisie uses all the three organs of the bourgeois state --- the bureaucracy, police-military and judiciary --- against the working class and other toilers. There is no let-up in their intense class hatred against the exploited, and their claim of impartiality is simply bunkum.

The recent episode of Tamilnadu where 1.2 million state employees and teachers unitedly joined an indefinite strike from July 2, after all their efforts for a negotiated settlement of the issues failed, is a glaring example of the intense class hatred of all organs of the bourgeois state.

APEX COURT RULING  

The trade union movement and the democratic minded people of the country are deeply shocked at the way the state government launched its brutal repression on the 1.2 million state employees and teachers of Tamilnadu. The latter had to go on an indefinite strike to demand restoration of the earlier pensionary benefits and other dues which were drastically cut by the government.

It is a matter of deep concern and anguish that, in its verdict on July 21 and thereafter, a division bench of the Supreme Court upheld the arbitrary dismissal of about two lakh state government employees and teachers who took part in the statewide strike. Nay, the court totally justified the most autocratic, repressive measures of the state government. The court termed the strike as “illegal” and stated that “the Jayalalitha government has sent a tough message that mal-administration cannot be caused in this way.” This message of the Supreme Court will only embolden the central and state governments and all managements to recklessly deal with any strike and other protest actions by employees and workers who are reeling under the economic offensive of neo-liberal globalisation in the form of drastic cut of their earned economic benefits and privileges.

Moreover, such is the Jayalalitha government’s vindictiveness that even though the Supreme Court asked it to reinstate the dismissed employees, albeit on condition of a humiliating undertaking, the state government filed a concocted FIR against about 30,000 employees and teachers on July 25, much after the strike was withdrawn, and refused to allow these 30,000 to join duty. It even refused to allow pension benefits to those who were to retire during the pendency of the strike. 

Shockingly, the Madras High Court too did not strike down the draconian ordinance issued by the Tamilnadu government arbitrarily amending the Tamilnadu Essential Service Maintenance Act 2002, at a time when the state assembly was in session. The court kept silent on it and did not come out to give proper relief to the striking employees and teachers.

As for the apex court, its judgement justified the Tamilnadu government’s action of dismissing more than two lakh employees and teachers and chargesheeting about 2500 on the plea of so called violence. Then, to add insult to injury, it requested the Tamilnadu government to reinstate the dismissed employees, except those chargesheeted, provided they tender an “unconditional apology” for their action and give an undertaking not to resort to strike again. All this is nothing but utterly humiliating the employees. This has hurt the human dignity not only of Tamilnadu employees but of the entire working class of the country.

The apex court’s assertion that Indian constitution does not provide the government employees right to strike, is totally confusing.

NO RIGHT TO STRIKE?  

The Government of India Act 1935 and the conduct rules by the British framed under the same act treated the government employees of India as virtual slaves. While the imperialist government behaved so in India, in its own country (the UK) government employees had the right to strike and even contest elections under certain conditions. Also, the constitution of India does not say anything about the right to strike by any section of the workers. Article 19 guarantees fundamental rights for all citizens and article 19(2) speaks of some reasonable restrictions which the central and state governments are to consider and decide. Under article 309 of the constitution, the central and state governments are empowered, through their legislatures, to frame rules on the service conditions of their respective employees. Most shamefully, however, the central and state governments have framed rules named as government servants’ conduct rules, just like a photocopy of the British-made conduct rules, which seek to prevent the government employees from exercising their full trade union and political rights. Only in West Bengal has the Left Front government changed these rules. But the right to strike is a fundamental trade union right and the Indian Trade Union Act of 1926 and the Industrial Dispute Act of 1947 deal with the workers’ right to form trade unions and to collective bargaining. 

One will recall that after the historic railway employees’ strike in 1974 and the loco running staff’s strike thereafter, several hundred railway employees were dismissed from service under rule 14(b). This rule drew upon article 311(2) b & c of the constitution for dismissing government employees, without any scope of self-defence, on the ground of ‘public good.’ Yet the apex court did not rule that government employees have no right to strike or that the strike was illegal. Nor did the apex court ask for a slavish undertaking or apology for reinstatement of the dismissed employees. By 1992, almost all the dismissed employees were reinstated in service. After the judgement, the AISGEF organised a successful strike in early 1986 at all-India level against the judgement, demanding deletion of article 311(2) b & c.

But this is the first time that, justifying the article 311(2) b & c, a division bench of the apex court has come out with such a strange judgement.

The workers of India, or for that matter throughout the world, have won their rights through struggle and sacrifice; not as mercy from anybody. Whether it is industrial working class or government employees, they cannot forego their right to collective bargaining, including the right to strike, in furtherance of their legitimate interests, whatever may be the circumstances. Here, in the Tamilnadu case, the strike took place under a compelling circumstance, as employees sought to restore their benefits that were arbitrarily cut down. But the state government applied clause 22 of the TESMA (Tamilnadu Essential Services Maintenance Act 2002), amended by an ordinance during the pendency of the strike, to violently suppress the strike and straightaway dismissed the employees even without notice.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) --- a tripartite body of the United Nation system --- has accepted those rights in its conventions 87, 98, 151 and 154. Meant for public services, convention 151 specifically mandates that “public employees shall have, as other workers, the civil and political rights which are essential for the normal exercise of freedom of association, subject only to the obligation arising from their status and the nature of function.”

As the ILO’s convention 151 is a tripartite decision, the government of India, as a founder member of ILO, cannot morally ignore it. Whether the government of India has ratified these conventions or not is a different matter. The trade union movement has all through demanded ratification of these conventions by the government, and urged the toilers to go ahead to assert their rights.

The savage attack made by the Tamilnadu government on the employees and teachers is totally unprecedented in the history of India’s trade union movement.

NATIONWIDE PROTEST & LESSONS

The All India State Government Employees’ Federation (AISGEF) has strongly urged the Tamilnadu government to unconditionally withdraw all victimisation, dismissals, chargesheets, etc, and restore the arbitrarily cut pensionary and other benefits of the employees and teachers.

The AISGEF has urged upon all trade unions of the country to rise in strong protest against such virulent attack on the employees’ and teachers’ rights and to restore the snatched away economic benefits. This snatching came in pursuit of the World Bank-IMF-dictated neo-liberal economic policies. Moreover, all trade unions have to unitedly protest against the court judgement that goes against the employees’ and workers’ trade union rights and justifies unprecedented repression by the state.

Meanwhile, the AISGEF and also the Central Government Employees’ Confederation are going to organise protest actions on August 13. This is meant to move the workers and democratic minded people into thwarting such ferocious attacks on the working class.

The government employees and the entire trade union movement have to take appropriate lessons from the events of Tamilnadu and the attitude of the judiciary. They have to keep in mind that many more such offensives will come down on the working class and other sections of the toiling people in the wake of the government of India’s disastrous economic policy, dictated by the World Bank-IMF-WTO. Obviously, not only the central government but many of the state governments and the capitalists will launch vigorous repressive and vindictive measures to suppress the rising militant actions of the workers, employees and other toiling people against the government’s and the capitalists’ grave economic offensives.

The entire working class has to review and take lessons from the latest, most ferocious and unprecedented attack on the employees and teachers of Tamilnadu. It cannot remain an isolated event in a country led by the big bourgeoisie. The Indian state is no longer prepared to tolerate any protest against its economic offensives and is likely to heavily come down on the fighting workers in the same or similar fashion. Its vehement class bias will come to the fore to protect the capitalists’ interests and hardly anybody can expect ‘impartiality’ from any organ of this state.

What is required in this situation? A heightened class consciousness among the working class and other toilers so that they can correctly assess the situation and act accordingly with greatest measure of unity. In no circumstance can the working class forego its trade union rights, including the right to strike.

(Sukomal Sen is general secretary of the AISGEF.)