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On April 14, at the 36th Session of the Indian
Labour Conference, at Delhi, the Prime Minister called for drastic action
against trade unions. He demanded a complete overhaul of the labour laws and the
trade unions. In order to make India even more conducive for TNC profits he said
"Change, urgent change, radical change is the need of the hour. We need it to
make the Indian economy and Indian industry domestically vibrant and globally
competitive." Such venom was also spouted by the Union Labour Minister,
Satyanarayan Jatiya. The government plans an all-out onslaught to defacto curb
all trade union rights so that big capital can get labour at even cheaper rates
— this is meant by making "Indian
industry domestically vibrant and globally competitive."
The BJP and its governments has been planning this
attack from the very start, and has already taken a number of actions against
the working class, which has hit them severely.
On December 1998 the BJP-led coalition set up the
Second National Commission on Labour to suggest changes in labour policy and
legislation. The Resolution for setting up this Commission was issued by the NDA
again, immediately on coming to power, on October 15, 1999. On January 14, 2000
it slashed interest rates on the Provident Fund by 1% thereby, simply robbing
the workers of their savings. On February 7, 2000 the cabinet decided to amend
the 1926 Trade Union Act to prevent new unions from coming up. On February 25,
2000, the Economic Survey for 1999-2000 called for major reforms in the labour
market. On March 31, 2000 in the EXIM policy, strikes have been defacto banned
in the new Special Economic Zones to be set up by foreign capital, by declaring
industries in them as "public utilities."
With the massive retrenchment taking place in both
private and public sectors, big business has been demanding labour
‘flexibility’ with the right to ‘hire and fire’ at will. It is
precisely this what the BJP-led coalition has in mind. It also seeks to allow
industry to replace its permanent staff with mostly contract labour by amending
the Contract Labour Act; and to strip labour of its right to organise by
amending the Industrial Disputes Act. Draconian measures are planned.
The establishment trade unions, while putting up
mock opposition to these steps, have so incapacitated the working class, that
the prime minister had the audacity to launch his tirade at a very Labour
Conference itself. Having steeped the workers in economism; having turned trade
unionism into a money-spinning business where union bosses act as commission
agents between the workers and managements; having meekly accepted the attacks
that have already been taking place.... the ruling classes are confident of
binding the working class even further.
But there is a limit to peoples tolerance. The
workers are bound to throw off these incubuses that have bound them, and break
out in revolt against these attacks. The workers will recollect that it was
Bhagat Singh’s bomb, thrown in parliament against a new trade union law, that
shook the country. A new time-bomb is ticking away under the seat of the fat
bosses and their agents in the government. |
