Items filtered by date: July 2014

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Monday, 28 July 2014 11:39

CITU DENOUNCES ANTI-LABOUR AMENDMENT IN LABOUR LAWS BY RAJASTHAN GOVT

Press Release                                                                                                                         
 
28th July 2014
                                                                                                                                               
 
                                                           
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions condemns the move to bring about anti-labour amendments in Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act and Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act by the BJP Govt in Rajasthan on which Amendment Bills have already introduced in Rajasthan Assembly. CITU calls upon to organize countrywide protest at the earliest against such corporate driven onslaught on working people by the Rajasthan Govt at the behest of the capitalist class.
 
The amendments proposed in Industrial Disputes Act aim at empowering the employers to retrench workers at will, without prior permission of the Govt in all establishments employing up to 300 workers, and also deny the trade union in any establishment to represent the grievances/demands of the workers unless they have at least 30% membership strength among the workers of the concerned establishment. Moreover almost all protective clauses on contract labour, particularly the responsibility of the principal employer have been proposed to be deleted. Also the employer is being empowered to attribute any failure in production or operation as a failure of the workers as the provision is being made to widen the definition of “go-slow” in the Act. The changes in the Industrial Disputes Act will empower the employers to freely retrench the workers at will in overwhelming majority of the industrial establishments in the country, freely engage workers on contract in permanent perennial jobs and denying them all rights to statutory wages and social security, and victimize the workers at their whims and fancies.
 
The amendments proposed to Factories Act increase the threshold limit of employment for the factories operating without power from 20 to 40 and for the factories operating with power from 10 to 20 for the purpose of being covered under the Act. Moreover the Govt made provisions that without prior written permission from the state government complaint for violation of law against the employer cannot receive cognizance by the court. Punishment provision for violation of labour law has also been proposed to be relaxed. These changes will lead to pushing out a large number of factories and workers out of the coverage of almost all basic labour laws.
 
The amendments proposed to Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act also removes all contractors employing up to 49 workers out of the purview of the coverage of the Act. This will in effect throw out vast section of contract workers out of the coverage of almost all labour laws.
 
In fine, the amendment proposals to labour laws by the BJP Govt in Rajasthan is aimed at establishing a jungle raj in workplaces giving the capitalist class complete freedom to loot and exploit the workers. In fact, the enforcement of labour laws in Rajasthan had all along been worse with the numerous complaints of violation of all labour laws pertaining to minimum wages, contract labour, PF, ESI, working hours, unlawful retrenchment etc have been piling for years without any redressal in almost all the industrial areas in the state. These amendment proposals of the state government are designed to legitimize or legalise all those violations by the employers class.    
 
If the overactive move by the BJP Govt in Rajasthan to amend labour laws in the most obedient service of the employers class, both domestic and foreign, is any indication, the working people throughout the country as a whole are going to face a severe onslaught on their rights and livelihood in the days to come from corporate-servile polity in power at the centre. Already such move is reported to be afoot in respect of number of labour laws.
 
CITU calls upon the working people of the country and all trade unions irrespective of affiliations to organize protest such corporate driven retrograde changes in labour laws by the Rajasthan Govt and prepare for united countrywide struggle to resist such onslaught on their rights and livelihood.
 
(TAPAN SEN)
General Secretary
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Saturday, 12 July 2014 13:36

CITU General Council Meeting inauguration at Bellary Karnataka

CITU General Council Meeting inauguration at Bellary Karnataka

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Tuesday, 08 July 2014 12:23

RAILWAY BUDGET 2014-15: A ROADMAP FOR PRIVATISATION

8th July 2014

 

PRESS RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                                               

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU) expressed serious concern at the BJP Govt’s first Railway Budget, 2014-15 which declares its dependence on so called public private partnership, private investment including FDI for funding its infrastructural and capacity augmentation projects. It reflects nothing but continuity of the same pro-corporate policy of the much discredited Congress Regime, rather in more aggressive form.

Just weeks before the Railway Budget, steep hike in passenger fares and freight charges to the tune of 14.2% and 6.5 % respectively exposed the brazen undemocratic as well as anti-people modus operandi of the BJP Govt. Added to this is the budgetary announcement of linking the future prices of travel with fuel adjustment factor which will result in virtual deregulation of railway fares providing for automatic increase in railway fares with the increase in price of fuel. This is nothing but an arrangement for perpetual increase of burden on common people.

Further, the thrust on PPP, FDI and outsourcing in various segments of railway operation and services as outlined in the current Railway Budget, is going to make the situation worse. Despite abject failure of the same exercise on depending on PPP route for infrastructural expansion and services during the UPA regime as reflected in plan expenditure in 2013-14 falling short by a whopping “Rs 59,359 crore from the target due to non-materialisation of PPP targets”, the Modi Govt also preferred to stick to the same provenly failed route. This means, either the expansion work will suffer or the private investors’ lobby will extract more undue concessions from the Govt in the process of their response, finally increasing the burden on the common people. Precisely, that had been the past experience of all PPP projects in sea-ports, airports, roads etc during the UPA’s tenure which increased the burden on the consumers and the people in a big way.

Despite admitting in the budget the abject failure of the Railways to implement the declared and sanctioned projects even to an insignificant extent, resulting in huge accumulation of unfulfilled projects announced in successive budgets, the current Budget failed to present any concrete roadmap for their execution except giving sound bites on prioritization, time frame etc. Even the new announcements made in the current budget do not have appropriate budgetary back-up, rendering them to be deceptive in real sense.

The Budget sounded high on Govt’s commitment to safety, but kept absolute silence about filling up around 3 lakh vacancies in the Railways, majority of which are related to management and maintenance of safety standards in railway operation.  

CITU records its condemnation to this anti-people and privatization oriented Railway Budget and calls upon the working people to voice their protest against such retrograde exercise of the Modi Govt.

Issued by

(TAPAN SEN)

General Secretary

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Friday, 04 July 2014 11:39

NO TO ANY DILUSION OF THE RIGHTS ENVISAGED UNDER MNREG ACT

Press Release                                                                                                      

4th July 2014

 

CITU DENOUNCES THE RAJASTHAN GOVT’S MOVE TO CONVERT THE ACT INTO A SCHEME

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions denounces the move by the BJP Govt in Rajasthan to dilute and scrap the “right based provisions for employment” under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) as reported by the press. The move initiated by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan to propose various changes in the MNREG Act and the various propositions made thereon are basically designed to strip MNREGA of the legal guarantee for employment and convert the right based Act into a scheme.

It appears, the BJP led Govt of Rajasthan is playing the role, in the backdrop of present political combine ruling at the centre (NDA) to pilot the programme for bringing about all brazenly anti-worker changes in the entire labour law regimes in the country.  Its earlier decision to amend Industrial Disputes Act and the Factories Act etc was also meticulously designed to empower the employers to retrench workers at will, push sizable section of factories and their workers out of the coverage of most of the labour laws and curb the rights of the trade unions. And now the propositions for changes in MNREGA basically seeks to take away whatever legal guarantee for minimum 100 days employment available to rural households in a situation when rural unemployment has assumed an alarming proportion.

CITU vehemently condemns such move of the Rajasthan Govt, demands upon the Central Govt not to indulge in such exercise. CITU calls upon the working people throughout the country and all the trade unions irrespective of affiliations to unitedly resist any such anti-people move. CITU demands that the MNREGA must be implemented in letter and spirit to ensure full 100 days’ work for all rural households and also the provisions for unemployment allowance as envisaged in the Act.   

Issued by

( TAPAN SEN )

General Secretary

Published in Press Releases
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