RIGHT TO STRIKE

 SC Logic Is Strange & Bizarre

THE Supreme Court’s August 6 ruling on government employees’ right to strike in connection with the strike in Tamilnadu has gravely shocked the All India State Government Employees Federation (AISGEF), all the government employees and the entire trade union movement of the country. The AISGEF, almost all trade unions and many prominent legal practitioners have come out against that ruling.

Besides enthusiastically justifying the unheard of repression let loose by the Tamilnadu government on its employees and teachers, some of the points the Supreme Court made are really amazing.

First, the Supreme Court accepted the Tamilnadu government’s hypocritical plea that while thousands and thousands of men and women of the country are not getting jobs, strike by government employees is impermissible. This is a strange logic, to say the least, and begs the question whether employees, or even the Tamilnadu employees who went on a strike against the drastic cut in their pensionary benefits, are responsible for unemployment in the country or the state. From the Tamilnadu government’s plea, that the Supreme Court has approved, it appears as if not the central and state governments but employees  are the policy makers and hence responsible for this alarming unemployment! 

Secondly, the Supreme Court ruling emphasised that government employees have no legal or moral right to strike. The fact is that the constitution of India neither granted a right to strike to anybody nor opposed it. It is simply silent on the issue of strike. So how can one claim that government employees have no legal right to strike? And what has morality to do with this? The question of morality was not raised when the state government severely cuts down the employees’ benefits and let loose upon them extremely vindictive repression. The question of a moral right suddenly came up only when the employees went on a strike.

Thirdly, the contention was that government employees cannot hold the society to ransom by going on a strike. The question is: are not the government employees and the working class in general a part of the society? If pension and other social security benefits earned by the millions of employees are snatched away and millions remain jobless, would not this policy destroy the society? As for who holds the society to ransom, it is in fact not the employees but the government and its notorious policies.

Fourthly, it was said that strikes are often misused as an instrument of protest, they create chaos and indiscipline, and that there are other avenues for expressing the grievances. But the Supreme Court simply forgot that the state government had ignored all attempts for negotiated settlement of the disputes as well as peaceful protest rallies and demonstrations, etc. Then, what other avenues of getting their grievances redressed remained open for the employees? The fact is that workers and employees use strike as their last weapon --- when all other measures fail. That strikes are often misused for creating chaos is simply an insinuation.

Fifthly, the apex court also sermonised that if employees work hard and honestly instead of going on a strike, that will be appreciated by the government as well as the public. But the question is: are not employees advised to work hard at a time when economic benefits and social security measures are being cut down, when employees are losing their jobs because of downsizing, privatisation, closure, contractisation, etc, and when the employees’ very existence is at stake? Is it not really a fantastic logic?

Then the matter remains that the division bench of the Supreme Court has refused to deal with the employees’ grievances and also with the Tamilnadu government’s adamant refusal to resolve them, though these were the sources for the strike that commenced on July 2. It is also very strange that the bench has justified those very measures that go against the employees.

Moreover, according to the division bench, while the trade unions have the right to collective bargaining, they have no right to strike. Broadly, this observation is directly against all trade unions. One may recall that throughout the world the working class has established its rights, including the right to strike, through bitter struggles and sacrifices and that the Indian Trade Union Act 1926 and Industrial Dispute Act 1947 were products of such struggles. In fact, right to strike is a logical corollary of the right to collective bargaining that has been universally recognised. Workers and employees have not gained their right to strike from court rulings or fatwas anywhere in the world. As for India, though we boast of being the “biggest democracy” in the world, this universal right has now been flatly denied, while ‘lesser democracy’ like the UK and France have recognised this rights by law.

In addition, the Supreme Court ruling said that the workers have no legal right to paralyse the economic and industrial activities of the country. But the fact is that workers take part in a strike only when all other methods fail to get a response from the government or the management. The reality is that the boot is on the other leg. Can one deny that the present policy of the government is leading to the country’s deindustrialisation? Today, the sordid reality is that many industrial concerns are being closed down, profit making public sector units which were built as the pillar of economic self-reliance of the country are being destroyed through privatisation, and the country’s resources and the economy are being handed over to the foreign multinationals. Is not the government’s policy solely responsible for this destructive act?

One may also recall that a Supreme Court ruling in connection with a case on disinvestments said that under the WTO regime the government had no option but to disinvest. Then, why the same logic is not being applied in case of a number of ILO conventions, the convention number 151 in particular, that give the government employees the right to strike? Why cannot the government recognise the right to strike if India is a founder member of the ILO? The government is bound by international obligations to the WTO as they promote capitalist interests, but the same government feels it has no moral or international obligation to abide by the said ILO mandates that seek to protect labour interests. May one remind that even the Second Labour Commission, whose recommendations some of the trade unions opposed, categorically emphasised that India had an obligation to fulfil the ILO’s four-point Declaration on Fundamental Principles of Rights at Work 1998? Nay, by universal standards, in the background of this declaration, the ESMA stands as a lawless law. But the Supreme Court is silent on it.

It thus stands out that the government of the country is faithfully following the dictates of international capitalist interests, represented by the IMF, World Bank and WTO. It is thus that it is out to deprive its employees and workers of their rights and benefits. It is creating severe joblessness by closures, downsizing, privatisation and contractisation, combined with the policy of world capitalism to build a trade union free world. The present situation is the result of these very fatal policies of the government and all organs of the capitalist state are being used to promote these anti-worker and anti-people policies in order to promote the interests of multinationals, indigenous monopolies and imperialist powers.

This being the situation, the working class cannot but continue the fight, come what may. 

In view of the dangerously delicate situation arising out of the Tamilnadu strike, where more than 6000 employees still remain dismissed and many others suspended and where the rest are compelled to sign a humiliating bond before reinstatement, while the Supreme Court has sought to justify these indignities and oppressions, the AISGEF is pledged to protect the interests of employees and their human dignity at all cost. The holding of a convention, running a mass signature campaign and staging a countrywide strike some time in December are a part of the action plan the AISGEF has chalked out in this regard, and it expects active support from all democratic minded people and institutions of the country in this task of remeding this repugnant situation and protecting the democratic norms and rights.