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On the first anniversary of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, 11 central trade unions declared a nationwide strike on September 2 to oppose various “retrograde” labour law reforms initiated by the ruling coalition.
The decision was taken at the national convention of workers, held opposite the office of the labour ministry. on Tuesday.
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), otherwise supportive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will also participate in the strike.
The trade unions collectively slammed the government for its “sweeping changes” to the labour laws, opening up various sectors for foreign investments and non-fulfilment of other demands.
“The government's aim in aggressively pushing through sweeping changes in labour laws is nothing but to push out overwhelming majority of workers out of the coverage of all labour laws and to drastically curb the trade union rights,” said the declaration signed by all the central trade union leaders.
The labour ministry has proposed a slew of labour law reforms recently. One of them — the contentious industrial relations Bill — will toughen rules for registration of trade unions and ease retrenchment norms for factories.
“The government has been over-busy in amending all labour laws to empower the employers with unfettered rights to “hire and fire” and stripping the workers and trade unions of all their rights and benefits,” the declaration, which mostly talked about the labour law reforms, said.
The trade unions said various state governments have proposed changes to their labour laws with the support of the present government “thereby allowing the employers to further squeeze and exploit the workers”. It even said the governments didn't follow international standards in proposing an industrial relations Bill to toughen norms for registration of trade unions and easing retrenchment norms for factories.
“These Bills have been put in public domain without consulting the trade unions thereby violating the provisions of ILO Convention 144 on tripartite consultation,” the trade unions said.
The trade union leaders launched a sharp attack on the central government, saying it is “clearing all the possible ways to make life easier for businessmen”.
“The government's ‘ease of doing business’ policy has been restricted to merely an agenda. It is working to impress the businessmen. People talk in different language when they to power and speak in a totally different tone when they are in the opposition,” said BMS General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay, adding it will not tolerate the anti-worker policies of the government.
Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said it will be impossible to form trade unions if the industrial relations Bill is passed. “We know one-day strike will not change the government's policies but this will warn the government that we are ready for the fight,” Dasgupta said.
According to a proposal opposed by the trade unions, factories with 300 workers will be allowed to lay off workers without official permission. Earlier, factories with 100 workers were allowed to do so. Another proposal mandates 10 per cent of the workers to form trade unions and curbs outside entry into the unions.
The trade unions were also upset for not being consulted during the process of drafting the labour law Bills. “The government is lying through its teeth in saying the trade unions were consulted in forming the labour law Bills," said Tapan Sen, general secretary of the CPI (M)-affiliated-Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
Apart from BMS, AITUC and CITU, the national convention was attended by Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Union Coordination Committee (TUCC), Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) and Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) and national federations of banks, insurance, defence, railways, central or state government employees.
To allay the fears of the trade unions, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had last week constituted a five-member committee to address their 10-point charter of demands. It has finance minister Arun Jaitley, minister of state in the PMO, Jitendra Singh, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, power minister Piyush Goyal and labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
Dattatreya had denied on Monday that a unilateral decision is being taken on amendments to labour laws and said the ministry had held meetings with the industry and trade unions discuss the changes.
