People's Democracy

MUMBAI

TUs Discuss Preparations for Feb 28 Strike

                                                                             P R Krishnan

ON December 30, top leaders of national trade unions centres held discussions in Mumbai to explore the requirements of making the proposed all-India strike on February 28, 2012 a big success. The leaders who participated in the discussion in the city included Sanjeeva Reddy (president, Indian National Trade Union Congress), Tapan Sen (general secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions), Gurudas Dasgupta (general secretary, All India Trade Union Congress), Uday Patvardhan (senior vice president, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh), Umraomal Purohit (general secretary, All India Railwaymen’s Federation), S R Kulkarni (president, Port and Dock Workers Federation of India) and Sharad Rao (president, Hind Mazdoor Sabha).

The venue for this discussion was Western Railway Employees Union office at Grant Road in central Mumbai. The INTUC president, AITUC general secretary, CITU general secretary and BMS vice president specially came to Mumbai to hold discussions with the TU leaders in Maharashtra. The state level office bearers of central trade union organisations also took part in this meeting of the national leaders at the Western Railway Employees Union office. They were K K Nair (INTUC), Sukumar Damle and Vishwas Udagi (AITUC), Annasaheb Desai and Advocate Anil Dhumne  (BMS), K L Bajaj and P R Krishnan (CITU).

After the mutual exchange of views, Sanjeeva Reddy, Gurudas Dasgupta, Tapen Sen and Uday Patwardhan jointly addressed a meeting of trade union leaders in the evening. This was organised by Trade Unions Joint Action Committee (TUJAC) and was held at National Railway Mazdoor Union hall at Matunga.

Prominent among those who participated and spoke in this meeting were Dr Shanti Patel (president, All India Port and Dock Workers Federation), R G Karnik (president, Confederation of State  Government Employees), Suryakant Mahadik (president, Bharatiya Kamgar Sena) and S K Bosh (secretary, National Railway Mazdoor Union). The gathering comprised bank and insurance employees, college and university teachers and industrial workers. A D Golandaz (AITUC) welcomed the gathering. The leaders who met at the Grant Road office and others who addressed the meeting in the NRMU hall pledged and appealed to the working class to make all efforts to make the all-India strike against the anti-people policies of the UPA government a big success.

The central trade union organisations and industrial federations are all now set to organise district level conventions in Maharashtra in preparation of the all-India strike.

STFI TO

JOIN STRIKE

IN a statement issued from New Delhi on December 29, 2011 by its general secretary, K Rajendran, the School Teachers Federation of India (STFI) has said that it would participate in the all-India strike on February 28, 2012, which has been called for by central trade union organisations and a large number of industrial federations.

The announcement was as per the unanimous decision of the STFI’s central executive committee (CEC) meeting on December 29, 2011 at Teachers Bhawan, New Delhi. Presided over by N Narayana, its vice president, the STFI CEC meeting has asked all its affiliate state organisations to join the strike in full strength and make it a grand success.

The CEC also resolved to demand that the government of India must withdraw the anti-employees Pension Funds Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, abolish the contractual appointments in educational institutions and pay regular salaries to all teachers, include pre-primary and higher secondary stages in the Right to Education Act, and allocate 6 per cent of the GDP for education.

The CEC decided to hold the fifth all-India conference of the STFI in Tamilnadu in the month of May 2012.

CPI(M) JAMMU UNIT

TO JOIN STRIKE

MEETING at Jammu on December 15, with its secretary Sham Prasad Kesar in chair, the Jammu regional committee of the CPI(M) has decided to support and join the all-India strike scheduled to take place on February 28, 2012. The said strike has been called for by all the major trade unions of the country, viz the CITU, INTUC, AITUC, BMS, HMS, UTUC, AICCTU etc.

The major demands are as under:

1) Concrete measures to contain price rise.

2) Concrete measures for linkage of employment protection with incentive package offered to the entrepreneurs.

3) Strict enforcement of all labour laws without any exception or exemption.

4) Universal social security cover for unorganised sector workers and creation of a national social security fund.

5) Stop to disinvestment in central and state public sector units.

6) No contractisation of jobs of permanent or perennial nature and till then payment of wages to the contract workers at the same rate as are provided to regular workers.

7) Amendment to the Minimum Wages Act to ensure universal coverage of statutory minimum wages not less than Rs 10, 000 per month, with indexation.

8) Assured pension for all.

9) Compulsory registration of trade unions within a period of 45 days.

The CPI(M) regional committee issued an appeal to all the trade unions in the region to participate in this strike and make it a historic event.