(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist)
Vol. XXXVI
No. 35
September 02, 2012
CITU
Denounces Nasik
Arrests
THE Centre of
Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has denounced the continuing
vindictive attacks on trade union leaders and activists by the Maharashtra state government at the
behest of the employers’ class, following the notification of
draconian MESMA that seeks to ban strikes and trade union
rights.
The CITU
condemned the arrest of Dr D L Karad, general secretary of the
Maharashtra state CITU, along with R S Pandey, vice president of
the state CITU, at Nasik
on August 24, late in night, on false and fabricated charges
under Section 307 (attempt to murder).
Through a
statement issued from New Delhi, the CITU said it “is crystal
clear that the arrest of Dr Karad and R S Pandey on the 24th
midnight had been at the instance of the employers association
in the background of ongoing struggles in several factories in
Nasik industrial area against unlawful deployment of contract
workers for permanent work, violation of agreements and all
basic labour laws, denial of statutory minimum wages and social
security etc.”
The CITU
welcomed the immediate response of the working people of Nasik of
protesting such an evil design of the state
administration-employers nexus. One may note that the workers
staged a militant demonstration before the district court at Nasik on August 25, and it was followed
by a two day strike in Nasik
industrial area on August 26 and 27, which the mass of
industrial workers and unions joined irrespective of
affiliations. Unions all over Maharashtra
also held protest demonstrations on August 27 and staged a
massive protest demonstration in Azad Maidan, Mumbai, on August
29. A trade union delegation met the state’s home minister on
the same day to urge the government not to act at the dictates
of the corporates and big business.
The CITU has
called upon the working class and the trade union movement to
protest countrywide against such heinous attacks on trade union
rights by the Maharashtra
government. It demanded that the government must stop acting at
the behest of the corporate business class to suppress the trade
unions and victimise the trade union leaders and activists
through false and fabricated cases. The CITU also demanded
immediate and unconditional release of Dr D L Karad, R S Pandey
and all workers arrested at Nasik on August 24.