BMS finds common ground with left, trade unions, to hold protests tomorrow

RSS affiliate to submit a 22-charter of demands to Arun Jaitley

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), will hold a protest march from Ramlila Ground to Parliament Street in New Delhi on Friday to protest the Narendra Modi government’s economic policies.

The BMS has said it will submit a 22-charter of demands to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The FM chairs the five-member inter-ministerial council that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had constituted to look at workers’ related issues.

The BMS protest comes on the heels of a three-day sit-in protest by the other 10 central trade unions. The BMS boycotted the protest by the other trade unions. It termed the protests by other trade unions as “politically motivated”.

Among its demands, the BMS wants a stop to foreign direct investment (FDI) and also a stop to the Centre’s plan to disinvest and privatize public sector undertakings (PSUs). The 12-point charter of demands of the other 10 central trade unions has also called for a stop to disinvestment of PSUs.

There is much that is common between the 22-pointer charter of demands of the BMS and the 12-point charter of demands of the 10 other central trade unions.

These 10 trade unions held a protest at New Delhi’s Parliament Street on November 9,10 and 11, in which thousands of workers from across the country had participated.

They had presented their charter of demands to Minister of State for Labour and Employment (Independent Charge) Santosh Kumar Gangwar on November 7. BMS leaders had also attended the meeting along with leaders of other 10 trade unions.

Subsequent to their three-day sit-in, the 10 central trade unions now plan to continue and complete their joint district level conventions by the first week of January 2018.

They have also announced district level ‘satyagrahas’ in the last week of January. The date for these protests is yet to be decided. They have threatened sectoral/industry level joint strikes as and when the Centre takes measures at privatisation in these sectors. The trade unions have also decided to protest on the day of the presentation of the Union Budget if it contains anti-worker measures. They plan to meet after the presentation of the Budget to plan their future course of action, including a nationwide labour strike.

Prominent of these 10 central trade unions are INTUC (Indian National Trade Union Congress, affiliated to the Congress party), AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress, affiliated to the Communist Party of India), CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions, affiliated to the CPI-M) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha. Others are NTUC, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF and UTUC.