Intuc Bengal Branch Targets Grassroots
West Bengal Pradesh National Trade Union Congress(WBPNTUC) president Subrata Mukherjee yesterday said that district and block committees had been formed to transform the West Bengal branch of the Indian National Trade Union Congress into a mass organisation. This will make the organisation more representative and active in dealing with socio-economic and political matters, he added.
Mukherjee was speaking at the 25th WBPNTUC annual conference here. Intuc, West Bengal, is celebrating its golden jubilee in 1997.
Trade union delegates from all over the country attended the two-day conference.
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Mukherjee said the West Bengal branch of Intuc has demanded the publication of a white paper on the governments industrial policy and its impact on workers as well as a thorough review of the ongoing economic and industrial reforms.
A 5,000-strong cycle rally would leave for Delhi from Calcutta and north Bengal next month to generate mass support for these demands.
The branch has also asked the state government to draw up a comprehensive industrialisation strategy for West Bengal after discussions with Intuc, take steps to tackle unemployment and inflation, and review the Ganga water agreement with Bangladesh to save Calcutta port and its workers.
WBPNTUC has also identified 51 unorganised sectors in different districts and zonal committees have been formed to organise the workers belonging to the unorganised sectors, he said.
Mukherjee said trade unions were confronting many problems in the wake of liberalisation. The time was ripe for forming a single confederation or a national confederation of all trade unions to stand up to the challenges posed by multinationals, he added.
A proposal to form at least a national confederation based on mutually negotiated issues till all central trade unions arrive at a consensus was passed at the conference.