People's Democracy

TAMILNADU 

United Movements Force The Govt To Relent A Little 

A K Padmanabhan

FACED with the prospect of a united and massive state wide strike of state public sector employees – including in the crucial transport and electricity sectors – the Jayalalithaa government had to relent and announce some measures for the employees.

As strike notices were served and united campaigns of the employees had gained momentum, the chief minister issued a long statement on October 12 declaring  “I have always believed that workers and employees who form the backbone of our economy should be enabled to have a life at good quality which will motivate them to give their best. It has always been my intention to provide better working conditions and benefits to workers and employees of public sector undertakings so that improved production and services can be realised for the benefit of the people.”

The CM also announced through the statement that employees of state transport undertakings and state electricity board, whose wage revision has been pending for the last 3 and 4 years respectively, will be given Rs 250 per month as interim relief with a retrospective effect of 13 months. It was also announced that they along with civil supplies corporation employees will get 8.33 per cent as bonus and 1.67 per cent ex-gratia this year.

Employees of these undertakings were being given 8.33 per cent as bonus for the last 3 years, but in other undertakings such as water supply and drainage board, cement corporation, cooperative sugar factories etc no bonus has been paid, pointing out the wage ceilings in Bonus Act. In the year 2000, all these workers had been paid 20 per cent bonus and the denial had resulted in a strike in the transport sector. In the present statement of the CM also there has been no reference to the undertakings, other than the above mentioned three. 

PRELIMINARY VICTORY

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the PSU employees felt that the announcement by the chief minister was only a preliminary victory for the employees. It however made it clear that the government must hold discussions with the unions and a fair bonus must be paid to the employees of all undertakings. On the wage issue also, the decision to pay interim relief for 13 months is not proper, as the settlements had expired much earlier.

Adopting this stand, the JAC went ahead with the campaign. Regional conventions were held in nine centres on October 16, which were addressed by leaders of all central TUs represented in the JAC. At the time of writing this, sectoral campaigns are going on in full swing. A state level convention is slated to be held on October 24. The unions want the state government to give bonus to the employees of all state PSUs and also to hold discussions with the unions to settle other pending issues.

GOVT EMPLOYEES & TEACHERS

In the meanwhile, the government invited the state government employees and teachers organisations for discussions and after a meeting with the CM, the government announced increase in DA, 7 days leave surrender benefit and also decided to cancel the withdrawal of recognition to the unions. The 4 per cent increase in DA is to be given with effect from July 1, 2004 and another 2 per cent from January 1, 2005. The leave surrender benefit and union recognition issues are the fall out of last year’s historic struggle. There was a system of surrendering 15 days leave to obtain cash benefits. This was withdrawn along with other benefits. In a significant aspect, the state government has also decided to treat the strike period, excepting the first 4 days, as on duty.

The government relented on these issues in the wake of sustained campaign by the state government employees and teachers organisations pressing their demands.

SECTORAL MOVEMENTS

As stated earlier, the activities and movements of various sections are continuing in the state. The ninth conference of the Handloom Workers Federation was held in Tirupur on October 6 and 7 and it began with a massive procession. It was  presided over by A K Padmanabhan, president of the federation and was inaugurated by A Soundararajan.

The inaugural session was addressed by Malathichittibabu, K Ramasamy and other leaders while K Santha Rao (AP) and Arakan Balan (Kerala) greeted the conference. After detailed discussions on the report placed by the general secretary, the conference decided to intensify the movement to press the demands of handloom workers. It was planned to conduct state wide demonsations on October 18 as part of this effort. An executive committee with A K Padmanabhan (president) E Muthukumar (general secretary) K Jeeva (treasurer) was elected in the conference.

PANCHAYAT EMPLOYEES

A state level convention of village panchayat employees, organised by the Local Body Workers Federation (CITU) was held in Villupuram on October 17. There are 12,612 village panchayats in the state in which nearly 30,000 motor pump operators and 20,000 sweepers are working. They are paid a paltry sum of Rs 400 per month. The labour commissioner has already ordered payment of the minimum wage of Rs 1,980 but it has not been implemented. The convention decided to continue struggles for minimum wages. On November 22, demonstrations will be held in front of all district collectorates on this demand.

The convention was attended by more than 1,000 representatives and was addressed by P M Kumar, CITU state treasurer and leaders of the federation including Moosa, K R Ganesan and P Shanmugam.

SUGAR WORKERS STRUGGLE

The unions in sugar factories all over the state have come together to launch a united struggle to settle their wage demands, bonus etc. The wage settlements in the sugar industry had expired in March 2003.

All central TU’s including the CITU, AITUC, INTUC have formed a joint action committee for this purpose. After factory-level demonstrations and meetings, a massive fast was undertaken in Chennai on October 11.

RALLY BY MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVES

A state level rally was organised by Tamilnadu Medical and Sales Representative Association (TNMSRA) in Chennai on October 16 on the question of a people- oriented drug policy and on the demands of medical representatives. The rally, led by the state leaders of TNMSRA was addressed among others by Malathichittibabu, CITU secretary.

RAILWAY WORKERS 

DREU, the union of militant railway men in Southern Railway, had been campaigning on various issues of railway workers including recognition of the union through secret ballot. The campaign, conducted all over the south zone, culminated in a massive dharna of more than 2,000 railway men, near the GM’s office in Chennai on September 15. The dharna was inaugurated by T K Rengarajan. Among those who addressed the participants were P Mohan, MP, S K Mahendran, MLA, A Soundara Rajan, P Marimuthu and leaders of DREU including P V Ramdoss, A Janakiraman and R Ilangovan. 

Basudev Acharya MP and chairman of the standing committee on railways addressed the railway men in a meeting at the gates of Integral Coach Factory on September 16. It may be noted the ICF workers, led by the United Workers Union (CITU) and other unions, have been conducting struggles against various policies of the Railway Board and that of local authorities. 

Acharya also addressed a meeting of former apprentices trained in railways, whose demands for regularisation he had actively pursued. He also met the railway officials and demanded immediate steps be taken to give employment to the former apprentices, a demand which has been accepted by the Railway Board. It is noteworthy that DREU has been leading the struggles of the apprentices for a long period.

BEEDI WORKERS

The seventh conference of the Tamilnadu Beedi Workers Federation was held from September 16 to 18, in Tiruvellore, a beedi worker centre. The conference began with a massive rally in which large number of women participated along with men workers. A V Bellarmin, MP, S K Mahendran MLA, T N Nambirajan, assistant general secretary of state CITU and leaders of federation, including V Kannan, M Rajangam, B Sunderrajan addressed the rally.

A Soundara Rajan, general secretary of state CITU, inaugurated the delegates’ session while federation president V Kannan presided. More than 200 delegates, from all over the state attended the conference. The industry is spread over 13 districts of the state.

A total of 34 delegates, including 10 women, participated in the discussion on the report. Malathi Chittibabu, convenor of state working women coordination, T K Rengarajan, vice president of state CITU greeted the conference.

The conference elected a sixteen-member secretariat including three women with V Kannan as president M Rajangam as general secretary, K Thiruselvan (treasurer), K Vaithinathan (vice-president) K S Nathan (assistant general secretary).

The conference called upon the beedi workers to continue the struggle for implementation of the increase in DA, proper implementation of PF, pension and other demands.

CO-OPERATIVE WORKERS

The second state level conference of Co-operative Employees Federation (CITU) was held in Dindigul on September 26. The conference gave a fillip to the movement of various co-operative sector employees who have been facing the onslaught of the state government.

Sixteen delegates participated in the discussion on the report submitted by the general secretary. Among those who addressed the conference were A Soundara rajan, N Nanmaran, MLA, K Balabharathi MLA and S L Muthukumar, president of the co-operative department employees association. A 19-member secretariat with P M Kumar (president) M Subaramanian (working president), A Krishnamurthy (general secretary) and a 26-member executive was elected by the conference.