‘We Will Not Surrender Our Right To Strike’

WEST BENGAL

A WAVE of protest swept Bengal in the wake of the Supreme Court’s verdict on strike actions.  From the foothills of the Himalayas to the coastal areas of Midnapore and the 24 Parganas, the toiling masses of Bengal registered their strong protest through rallies, marches, and demonstrations.

Workers, employees, the unorganised sector, as well as the members of various Left mass organisations took part in the programme as part of the all-India protest day.  The protest day saw programmes held across the state to lodge protest also against the barbaric attack on the striking employees in Tamil Nadu by the Jayalalitha government.

A central rally was held in the Esplanade area of the metropolis of Kolkata and several thousand people attended the rally.  The rally was held under the aegis of the state coordination committee, the joint council, the steering committee, and the yukta committee.

Addressing the meeting, general secretary of the AISGEF, Sukomal Sen said that the workers would never give up the right to strike in order to keep alive the struggle to earn legitimate rights and to protect rights earned. 

The toiling masses of the country, said Sen, would never accept the verdict on strike actions.  Through waging struggles would the toiling masses protect their hard-won rights. 

Several other leaders of the employees’ movement addressed the rally, including Sushil Brahma who presided, Jyoti Prasad Basu, Ruhidas Saha Roy, Nirmal Mukherjee, Debdas Chatterjee, and Samaras Sarker.

Elsewhere at the Nizam palace in the city, several thousand members of the central TU’s and employees’ federations organised a daylong dharna against the attempt to rob the working people of the right to strike to win legitimate demands.

Addressing the assemblage, state secretary of the CITU, Chittabrata Majumdar said that in a bind and facing a crisis, the capitalist class was desperately seeking to hit out at the working class by depriving the latter of the right to strike.  The workers-employees, assured Majumdar, never waged struggles and movements by bowing to the dictates of the ruling classes. 

“The toiling masses,” said the CITU leader, “fight against exploitation.”  At a time when the workers had nary a right, as for example when the great fight for eight-hour work day was launched and won, they had not hesitated to launch struggles including strike actions.  They shall continue to fight their battles now when legal bindings are sought to be used to enchain them.

“The common refrain of the ruling classes,” reminded Majumdar, “is that strike action is ‘bad’ for the economy.”  Majumdar went on to point out that a conspiracy of silence was maintained on the issues of VRS, downsizing, retrenchment, closure, and rampant privatisation.  When the transport operators or the petrol pump owners call for a continuous strike, nobody seems to recall how “bad” a strike action is.  The workers alone are blamed when they organise a strike based on legitimate demands.

Sukomal Sen (AISGEF), Kali Ghosh (CITU), Ajoy Mukherjee and Smarajit Roychaudhuri (coordination committee), Ranjit Guha (AITUC), and Asoke Ghosh, among others addressed the large gathering.

On August 13 masses of telegrams were sent by TU’s from across the state to the chief minister Jayalalitha of Tamil Nadu, condemning the vindictive actions taken against employees including teachers, demanding an immediate scrapping of TESMA and TESMO, an immediate withdrawal of cases against employees and teachers, and calling for commencement of negotiations for the settlement of the demands on the basis of which the strike call had been given.

B Prasant

 ANDHRA PRADESH

EMPLOYEES, teachers and workers expressed their resentment against the recent judgement given by the Supreme Court that government employees have no “fundamental, legal, moral or equitable right” to go on strike.  Treating the judgement as an attack on basic democratic rights, and condemning the autocratic measures of the Tamilnadu government in dismissing the striking employees and cancelling recognition to more than fifty unions of the employees, Andhra Pradesh working class held protest demonstrations, dharnas and other forms of agitation on August 13.

Employees of the government, public sector, teachers and workers in the organised and unorganised sectors gave vent to their indignation against the judgement and demanded that an enactment in the Parliament be brought to nullify the effect of the judgement and protect the right of the employees to go on strike.  In Hyderabad, they held lunch-hour demonstrations under the banner of the joint action committee of employees, teachers and workers and employees of BSNL and the RBI at their respective offices and institutions.  Employees under the banner of A P Public Sector Employees’ Federation joined the demonstrations in black attire to convey their protest. Leaders of the JAC, G Purnachandra Rao (president of APNGOs Association), A Krishna Reddy (president of Telangana NGOs Association), K Jojayya (president of A P United Teachers’ Federation) and M Janardhana Reddy (president of A P Public Sector Employees’ Federation) demanded the government to bring about an enactment in the Parliament against the judgement of the Supreme Court.  S Veeraiah, general secretary of the state committee of the CITU, maintained that it was ridiculous to say that the employees had no right to go on strike, when freedom of expression as a collective right was there in the largest democratic country.

Demanding the Supreme Court to review its judgement, employees in Kurnool took out a procession from the office of CITU to the collectorate where they held a dharna.   In Karimnagar district, employees of different departments and workers of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd in Godavarikhani attended to their duties wearing black badges. In Karimnagar town, employees of the Telecom department and LIC  participated in protest demonstrations and raised slogans against the judgement before entering their respective offices.   In the dharna conducted at the Adilabad district headquarters, anganwadi workers, village servants, auto and trolley drivers from Ichhoda, Adilabad, Taamsi, Jainath, Bela, Nirmal and Bhainsa participated. 

At  Sangareddy in Medak district, employees and workers under the banners of the CITU and of the TNGOs’ Association took out a procession to the collectorate where they held a dharna.  Employees of the department of Defence conducted a gate meeting at BDL during the lunch hour. In the Patancheru industrial belt, employees and workers held a silent march, tying their mouths with black clothes. Dharna was conducted at the mandal office.  Dharnas were conducted under the banner of the CITU  at the collectorates in  Guntur and Chittoor and at the mandal office in Anantapur.  The JAC also conducted a demonstration by  employees in Guntur. 

Similar demonstrations of protest against the judgement of the Supreme Court by employees and workers were conducted in Srikakulam, Khammam, Vijayanagaram, Cuddapah and  Visakhapatnam districts.  Workers of the Vizag Steel Plant formed a human chain.  Employees in Payakaraopet and Visakhapatnam attended to their duties, wearing black badges.A massive procession of employees and workers was taken out from Saraswati park to the           RTC complex in Visakhapatnam culminating into a public meeting which was addressed by the president of the state CITU, Ch Narasinga Rao, its district general secretary A Ajay Sarma  and others. LIC employees in Yalamanchili held a protest demonstration.   Rallies, dharnas and demonstrations were conducted by the employees and workers in Cuddapah, and Salur and Bobbili in Vijayanagaram district, and Amudalavalasa, Rajam, Tekkali  and Srikakulam town in Srikakulam district.

    M Venugopala Rao

 MAHARASHTRA

A MORE than five thousand strong rally of employees and workers assembled at Azad Maidan on south Mumbai on August 13 to convey their anger at the Supreme Court judgment on Tamilnadu employees strike. They exhibited their anger by tearing into pieces and burning copies of the judgement. The protestors denounced this attack on the democratic rights of the workers and made it clear that the judgement will not bind the workers and employees in exercising their right to strike. A telling example of the day was the strike of the ONGC employees strike on August 13, itself. This was despite the ban imposed by the Mumbai High Court on their strike the previous day.

The rally was organised under the banner of Trade Unions Joint Action Committee This committee comprises of several central trade union organisations such as CITU, AITUC, HMS, HMPK and regional organisations and industrial federations. The joint committee in a meeting held on August 8 had called for this protest rally. The rally pledged full support to and solidarity with the Tamil Nadu state government employees.

The Maharashtra state government employees and teachers, central government employees, Naval Dockyard employees, defence employees, public sector employees, railway employees, dock and port employees, transport employees, bank and insurance employees, municipal workers and industrial workers were part of the gathering.

The leaders who addressed the rally expressed surprise that the apex court while condemning the striking employees and the trade unions was deafeningly silent about the draconian measures adopted by the Jayalalitha government in dealing with the strike. Neither the midnight arrests of thousands of government employees and leaders of the staff unions nor the arbitrary dismissals of more than 1.75 lakhs employees was found worthy of condemnation by the Supreme Court. It was shocking that the Supreme Court also found no word to say that the state government’s action of downsising the staff strength and reducing the pensionery benefits and curtailing other facilities of the employees was illegal.

Every speaker who addressed the protesting demonstrators made it clear that the trade unions and the working class are well prepared to fight back such judicial onslaughts, come what may. This is not a right which the judiciary has bestowed on us or the ruling class granted to the workers. This is a right which the working class has wrested from the employees and the ruling classes through decades of struggles and sacrifices. We can not surrender such a right to the dictates of judiciary, said the leaders in their speeches.

It was CITU’s Maharashtra state committee general secretary K L Bajaj who conducted the proceedings of the rally. The speakers who addressed the rally were S R Kulkarni (Port And Duck Workers Federation), Samuel Augustin (Naval Dock Yard Employees), Dada Samant (Kamgar Aghadi), Sukumar Damle (AITUC), Sunil Joshi (State Govt Employees), Suryakant Begal (HMS), Shankar Salvi (HMKP), P R Menon (NRMU), J R Bhosale (Western Railway Employees Union), M A Patil (Sarva Sramik Sangh), Sanjai Singhvi (TUCI), Sayed Ahemad (CITU), Jaywant Chavan (Sarva Sramik Sanghatana), A D Golandaz (MSEB), N Vasudevan (T.U Solidarity Committee), Dr K K Theckedath (BUCTU), Ravi Joshi (IFTU) and Anil Tyagi (UTUC-Lenin Sarani). They were unanimous in their view that there should be all India action plans against these anti working class judicial pronouncements.

It needs however to be mentioned here that 2 days before the above rally of the trade union joint action committee, another protest demonstration against Supreme Court judgment took place in Mumbai on August 11th. It was organised by the National Railway Mazdoor Union at the Central Railway head quarters at Boribunder in South Mumbai near the office of the general manager. The 3 thousands strong demonstration of the railway employees comprised large number of women. The railway staff and workers journeyed from far off places to reach and assemble near the quarters. They carried banners and play cards proclaiming that “Right to Strike” is their fundamental right. They were addressed by NRMU leaders Y G Joshi, P R Menon, Milind Tulaskar, Venu P Nair, R P Bhalerao and B S Parab. Later on, a delegation of representatives of the employees submitted a memorandum to the general manager S P S Jain registering protest against the Supreme Court judgment and reiterating the right to strike as a fundamental right of the working class.

P R Krishnan