As the mass of the working people have been subjected to inhuman sufferings owing to loss of jobs, loss of wages, eviction from residences etc reducing them to hungry non-entities by the profit-hungry employers’ class in the process of 45 days lockdown, the Govt of the day at the centre has pounced upon those working people only with fangs and claws to reduce them to the stature of virtual slaves.
The Central Govt has taken a strategy to let lose their compliant state governments to start this cruel exercise. The BJP led Gujarat Govt pioneered to unilaterally expand the daily-working hours from eight hours to 12 hours without lawful compensation as per Factories Act while the governments of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh followed suit. Subsequently the state governments in Punjab and Rajasthan are reported to issue similar notification increasing daily working hours to 12 hours, obviously at the dictate of the corporate class and the Govt of Tripura and Maharashtra also are reportedly moving in the same direction.
The latest is the more aggressive move to liberate the corporate employers from the obligations under almost all labour laws in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh at the dictate of their corporate masters. The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister has announced the decision to exempt the employers from their substantive obligations under various labour laws like Factories Act, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour Act etc through appropriate amendments by executive order or Ordinance for a period of 1000 days, i.e., three years empowering the employers to hire and fire workers “at their convenience”; and there will be no labour department’s intervention in the establishments during the said period. Not only that, the employers were also exempted from payment of Rs 80/- per labourer to Madhya Pradesh Labour Welfare Board.
Similarly the Uttar Pradesh Govt in its Cabinet meeting held on 6th May 2020 has decided to exempt all establishments in the state from all the labour laws in vogue for a period of three years which will be notified through Ordinance.
It is also reported that the BJP Govt in Tripura has proposed to increase the daily working hours to 12 hours and also to permit hire and fire of workers as per convenience of the employers in all establishments employing up to 300 workers.
It is apprehended, most other state governments, particularly those ruled by BJP and its allies will follow the same path while competing with others in the name of development and attracting investment in the state on the dubious plea of revival of their economy. In reality, inhuman crime is being committed on the working people.
CITU strongly denounce such barbarous move to impose conditions of slavery on the working people who are actually creating wealth for the country, simultaneously suffering from brutal exploitation and loot by the capitalists and big-business. CITU calls upon the trade unions irrespective of affiliations and working people in general to unite and resist this barbarous and brutal machination on their rights and livelihood both at workplace level and at state and national level through determined united struggle.
Issued by
( Tapan Sen )
General Secretary
