FOUNDATION CONFERENCE OF PGWFI HELD IN HALDIA

Petroleum And Gas Workers Get Organised

The inaugural session in progress. Seated on the dais (from left) Swadesh Deve Roy, Laxman Seth and M K Pandhe

THE foundation conference of the Petroleum and Gas Workers’ Federation of India (PGWFI) took place at Haldia, West Bengal on November 14-15, 2005. A total of 177 delegates from 52 trade unions (of which 30 unions represented regular workers and 22 unions the contract workers) attended the foundation conference. These delegates came from all the major petroleum public sector undertakings – ONGC, IOC, OIL, BPCL, HPCL, CPL, KRL, NRL, BRPL, IBP, Balmer Lawrie, IOBL etc – and from across the country.

One of the most significant features of the federation, formally launched at the end of the two-day conference, is that it represents all the public sector petroleum companies in the country involved in exploration and production of oil and gas, refining of oil and marketing of gas and refined products. The federation affiliates together command the support of the overwhelming majority of workers in these different companies, and, in its totality, in the entire oil PSUs. Undoubtedly, it is the biggest federation of the petroleum and gas workers of the country. Another important feature is that the trade unions that have jointly founded the federation comprise of unions with different affiliations, along with the unaffiliated independent trade unions functioning in all the segments of the petroleum industry. Thus, from the day of inception, the federation has inherited the distinction of a united federation of the petroleum workers in the country, both in letter and spirit.

THE INAUGURAL SESSION

The inaugural session commenced on November 14 at Haldia with the welcome address by Lakshman Seth, MP and chairman of reception committee and the inaugural address by M K Pandhe, president of CITU.

Welcoming the delegates and trade union leaders from abroad, Laxman Seth stressed upon the need for strengthening the struggle against the policies of neo-liberalism and assured them of total cooperation and commitment of the working class movement of India to the said task.

Inaugurating the conference, M K Pandhe, who is also the co-chairman of International Energy & Miners Organisation (IEMO) congratulated the delegates for ensuring the broadest unity of petroleum workers as reflected in their participation in the conference. “Unity and United Struggle is our life-line”, asserted Pandhe.

While focusing on the strategic importance of the petroleum and energy sector, Pandhe deplored the anti-national policy of privatisation being pursued by successive central governments in the sector. He stressed upon the urgent need for waging a determined struggle against these policies by building total unity of workers. In fact, petroleum workers must play a frontline role in the ongoing united countrywide struggle against the neo-liberal policies and against the onslaught on trade union rights. The new federation has to take urgent initiative in that direction, pointed out Pandhe. Kali Ghosh, general secretary of West Bengal state committee of CITU also greeted the conference.

Subir Raha, CMD of ONGC, V C Aggarwal, Director (HR), IOC and S A Narayan Director (HR), BPCL addressed the inaugural session while the Directors/Heads of Human Resources Departments of almost all the petroleum PSUs attended the inaugural session.

DELEGATE SESSION

The delegate session, which began in the afternoon of November 14, was conducted by a presidium comprising Pradeep Mayekar (ONGC, Mumbai), Chandu Dalvi (HPCL, Mumbai), Mahesh Rane (BPCL, Mumbai), Rohini Kalita (Oil India Ltd, Assam), T S Rengarajan (IOC, Chennai), Phani Barman (IOC, Guwahati), Sisir Chakraborty (ONGC, Kolkata) and Dipankar Mukherje, (secretary, CITU).

Swadesh Dev Roye, convenor of the central steering committee placed the convenor’s report, which dealt at length on the situation facing the oil and natural gas sector in the country and the implication of international developments. It also dealt on the privatisation onslaught launched by successive central governments on the oil PSUs as per dictates of the World Bank and IMF. It also explained in particular the malicious campaign unleashed by the World Bank, through various documents/reports, against India’s public sector and the need to refute the same through intensive grassroots-level campaign.

In the process of evolving united struggle against privatisation of oil PSUs, the unity of the oil sector workers has been broadened with the formation of ‘National United Forum Against Privatisation of Oil PSUs’, which led many successful struggles. In view of the forthcoming challenges before the oil PSUs, the forum has to be further strengthened and widened. And for this, the consolidation of the struggling force within the trade union movement in oil sector is a must. It is in this backdrop that the national federation is taking shape through this conference, said Dev Roye while placing the report.

The report further dealt on the deceptive policy of the government in pricing the petroleum products, by which  the common man is being repeatedly burdened and the economy as a whole was being affected. It also pointed to the menace of contractorisation in the oil PSUs, bringing about adverse change in the composition and quality of employment. This is thereby affecting the trade union rights and right to collective bargaining of the workers and also posing a severe threat to the forthcoming wage negotiation in PSUs. Oil workers’ movement must confront this challenge and take initiative in organising the contract workers in a big way. 

A total of 29 delegates from various unions took part in the discussion on the report and Swadesh Dev Roye responded to various points raised by them in his reply to the discussion. Various suggestions have also been received from the delegates on the Constitution of the new federation. It has been decided by the conference that the first meeting of the committee elected from the conference will finalise the Constitution of “Petroleum & Gas Workers’ Federation of India (PGWFI)” on the basis of the suggestions received and circulate the same to all the constituents.

The conference unanimously elected  29 members as office bearers with Pradeep Mayekar as president, Swadesh Dev Roye, as general secretary and Ardhendu Dakshi as secretary (Finance). It has also elected an executive committee comprising representatives from the constituent units of the federation.

A Constitution Drafting Committee was constituted by the conference comprising Ardhendu Dakshi, Praful Matre, S S Singh, M C Goswami, Nogen Chutia, and Tushar Dutta Majumdar.  A Credential Committee comprising Swapan Ganguly, Shiben Guha, T S Sukul, Uday Kumar Majumdar and Atul Rajak and a Souvenir Sub Committee comprising Abhi Bose, B Balgopalan and Sanjay Chatterjee were also constituted at the beginning of the conference.

THE ISSUES PRIORITISED

The petroleum workers are not only distributed amongst the different oil PSUs but are again sub-divided even within the same company and under the same management under various nomenclature. Such a situation has been constraining the petroleum workers from coming out of the company-centric, comparatively low level of consciousness. The federation must take determined steps to promote industry-wide higher level of consciousness and industry-level all round unity of the workers. Based on this basic understanding, the federation must work out detailed plan of action in the forthcoming period.

The onslaught of privatisation of oil PSUs through various routes – divestment of shares, strategic or otherwise; leasing out discovered hydrocarbon blocks, both on shore and off shore; off-loading of jobs through massive contractorisation; discriminatory favour to private sector; too many joint ventures with big business houses etc – must be fought vigorously by the federation.

The attack on labour laws, attack on trade union rights and attack on right to strike are integral part of the structured, capitalist ploy of privatisation. Therefore, the fight against privatisation and the fight against attack on labour laws and trade union rights must go hand in hand.

The menace of contractorisation must be fought tooth and nail. The question of right to collective bargaining and right to form trade unions for the contractor workers must be taken up on a priority basis.  The need to seriously ponder over the ever deteriorating dangerous ratio of regular workers, contractor workers and executive cadres in the oil enterprises, both in private sector and public sector, and fight out this dangerous distortion was underlined by the conference.