TMC to form unions in railways, bank and insurance sectors

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is all set to form employees' unions in the railway, banks and insurance companies in a bid to tap the huge workforce base in these sectors.
"On the directions of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal Chief Minister), we have decided to form employees' union in the Indian Railways that has 18 lakh staff. Each of the railway zones will have a unit of the union," TMC all-India vice president Mukul Roy told reporters here today.
"The national outfit will be called Indian Railway Trinamool Men's Federation," Roy said.
"The unit for the Eastern Railway, will be called Eastern Railway Trinamool Men's Congress; for South Eastern Railway, it will be South Eastern Railway Trinamool Men's Congress and likewise for each zonal railway in the country," the former Railway Minister said.

"The party will form unions for banks and insurance companies in the public and the private sectors as well as for cooperative banks," Roy said.
It will be named All-India Bank and Insurance Employees' Trinamool Federation, he said.

The TMC leader said under his leadership a committee, which was formed by Mamata Banerjee, will oversee the formation of the unions.
Apart from Roy, the committee will comprise former Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, TMC MPs Kakali Ghosh Dastidar and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and MLA Manas Bhuniya.
"We will try to ensure that the rights and benefits of employees in these sectors are maintained through negotiations with the employers instead of going on strikes and calling bandhs," the TMC national vice-president said.

Though TMC has had three Railway Ministers, including Banerjee, during the previous NDA and the UPA governments, it has had little presence in trade unions in the Indian Railways, which is dominated by the Left, the Congress and the BJP-leaning workers bodies.
The bank and insurance sectors are dominated by Left-leaning unions, apart from Congress and BJP's trade union wings.
Roy said the process for getting the trade union bodies registered would begin soon.