ANDHRA PRADESH

Lessons From The Glorious Struggle Of VSP Contract Workers

Ch Narsinga Rao

ON the night of June 16, 2005, the till then gloomy looking Rehabilitation Colony of contract workers became a center of festivity.  There were flashes of fireworks amidst beaming smiles on everyone’s face. There was all round jubilation.  Workers hugged the leaders and carried them on their shoulders. The reason for all this jubilation is the grand and successful culmination of a serious struggle of contract workers employed in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP); a struggle which was waged for 15 days – in the present times of globalisation.

In Visakhapatnam Steel Plant around 8200 contract workers went on a strike from June 2 in support of their demands. After a protracted and bitter struggle, the management of the steel plant was forced to come to an agreement with the workers. It signed minutes on June 16 as per which it agreed that workers would be paid an interim relief of Rs 300 per month and bonus of 8.33 per cent for the year 2004-05. It was further agreed that a committee, with majority of  representatives from the trade union, would be constituted to consider other demands of the workers in order to conclude a final settlement.  It is necessary here to mention the anti-worker role played by the INTUC leadership, which tried all its dirty tricks in order to scuttle the settlement and to destabilise the strike.  But it is a good augury that the workers saw through their game, ignored their false alarms and participated in the struggle with redoubled vigour and commitment.

UNITY, THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

The prime factor for the success of this struggle has been the exemplary unity of all the contract workers despite the fact that they were divided into two categories viz., ‘production sector’ and ‘service sector’.  But the contract workers are spread over the entire plant in all the departments.  It is difficult to prepare these workers to participate in a struggle, and difficult still to bring those who remained out of the purview of the trade union movement, into direct action.  Over the last three years a number of activities were undertaken to cement the unity of the workers. Seven years back, a major breakthrough was achieved by the CITU which clinched a demand that even if the contractors changed, the contract workers shall not lose their work. When contract workers were sought to be removed on the pretext of physical fitness, by conducting medical check-ups, the workers unitedly opposed the move and stopped it. In the last three years a number of agitational programmes were taken up demanding wages on par with other steel plants.

SOLIDARITY BY PERMANENT WORKERS

The permanent workers extended total support to the cause of the contract workers by wearing badges. In order not to inconvenience the permanent workers, the contract workers, working in the canteens and hospitals were exempted from the direct strike action.  Despite the provocations of the INTUC, all the other unions of permanent workers supported the struggle. The permanent workers held a scooter rally and participated in the meetings of the contract workers and extended support.  During the period of strike, whenever a contract worker was found attending to duty, he was convinced about the need for participating in the struggle by permanent employees.

The contract workers have been raising their just demands before the management for the past three years. The steel plant has been making steady profits.  The plant made a net profit of Rs 2006 crore during the last financial year. The slogans of the contract workers’ union that ‘wages shall be paid at par with other steel plants’ and  ‘workers be paid wages by the steel plant management itself as in other steel plants’ caught the imagination of the workers.  The recommendation of the Petitions Committee of the Parliament, made in the year 2003, that pay structure of workers shall remain the same in all steel plants was never cared for by most managements. The VSP management never observed the principle of equal pay for equal work.  For the same work a permanent unskilled worker was paid Rs 14,000 (including an incentive of Rs 4000) while a contract worker was paid only Rs 2386. (There should be no doubt that it is a happy feature that the permanent worker is paid well.) The need to fight for this just cause was highlighted by CITU all India president M K Pandhe, CITU general secretary Chittabrata Mazumdar and CPI(M) Andhra state secretary B V Raghavulu. They wrote letters to state chief minister Dr Y S Rajashekara Reddy and VSP managing director Dakshi. CITU all India office bearer and CPI(M) MP Jibon Roy closely guided the movement. Steel Workers Federation of India general secretary P K Das wrote appeal letters to the executives of steel plant, which impressed  them in favor of contract workers. CPI(M) Lok Sabha member from Andhra M Baburao and CITU state general secretary S Veeraiah addressed solidarity rallies. All political  leaders, excepting those belonging to Congress and INTUC, fully supported the strike. This moral and physical support  made the contract worker to take a firm stand for their just demands.

EFFORTS TO BUILD UNITY BEAR FRUIT

Steel Plant Contract Labour Union (affiliated to CITU) made serious efforts to build unity among all the trade unions.  As a result, the CITU and HMS served a combined strike notice to the management, whereas the AITUC gave a separate strike notice. Discussions were held with the management on a number of occasions. The INTUC and other unions were repeatedly requested to join the struggle.  Both the INTUC and the TNTUC (B Pydiraju group) not only joined hands with the management but they also tried all dirty tricks to scuttle the strike. They went to the extent of challenging that ‘even if one rupee raise could be secured by this strike, they would tonsure their heads’.  Full credit should go to the wisdom of the workers that none of such empty rhetoric could distract their struggle.

MANAGEMENT’S UNTENABLE POSITIONS

For a long time, the steel plant management took up the untenable position that the wages of contract workers is the concern of the contractors alone and the steel plant management has no role to play in the issue.  This position is clearly against the provisions of the Section 25(v)(b) of the Indian Contract Labour Act, which provides that the payment of wages and bonus of the contract worker is mainly the responsibility of the Primary Management. The steel plant management took up another position that if the state labour department issues any GO on minimum wages for contract workers, they would implement that. The state labour department on the other hand took up the position that they cannot issue GOs for each industry.  However the state labour commissioner vide letter dt.11-03-2005 suggested that wages could be negotiated by a process of ‘collective bargaining’.  The plea of the CITU to honour at least this advice of the labour commissioner fell on the deaf ears of the management.

When the strike was on, the plant management made an offer of forming a committee to go into the issue and enhance wages later after its deliberations. The unions refused this dilly-dallying tactical offer and continued the strike. The  management tried its best to foil the strike. It encouraged ‘black legs’ by issuing passes to 500 outsiders. The servile trade unions were given all sorts of encouragement. On the other hand, the passes of about 150 CITU workers were sought to be cancelled.  Newspapers were pressurised not to highlight the news of the valiant strike of contract workers.  Some willing newspapers were fed with false news about the response to the strike. All these conspiracies could not deter the workers from their determination to clinch their just demands from the unwilling hands of the management.

LESSONS OF THE STRUGGLE

• Better wages and other benefits for the contract workers employed in public sector and heavy industries can be secured if they stand united.

• If the demands are owned by the workers and when a strike action is initiated by militant trade union like CITU, other unions as well as non-unionised members would also join the struggle, sooner or later.

• In general, contract workers fear that their employment is not secure. This struggle demonstrated that if the workers stand united, no force on earth could affect their employment security.

• No management will accede to a demand, however just the demand may be.  Only a struggle will make the management see reason.

• The permanent workers, by their total and direct support to the struggle, proved that they are the real comrades-in-arms to the contract workers.

• This struggle has exposed the true colours of the bourgeoisie unions like INTUC.  It is one thing to shed crocodile tears about the plight of unorganised workers and another thing to carry on a relentless fight for their rights. The CITU by its fight proved that it is the real leader in fighting against management with all its strength.

• When workers go on a strike, managements aggressively push lot of untenable arguments. Workers can succeed only by exposing such false arguments and by not falling a prey to their dirty tricks.

 (The writer is president of Andhra Pradesh state committee of CITU)