COMMITT OF PUBLIC SECTOR TRADE UNIONS CALLS UPON WORKERS TO JOIN IN THOUSANDS IN MASSIVE MARCH TO PARLIAMENT ON 23RDE FEBRUARY, 2011

PRESS COMMUNIQUIE 15^TH DCEMBER, 2010

CPSTU Calls upon all CPSU workers to join in thousands in Massive March to Parliament on 23^rd February, 2011

The Core Group of the CPSTU notes with deep encouragement that the country witnessed a historic general strike by around 10 crore workers on 7^th September, 2010 covering all the sectors and segments of economic activities in the country pressing for five points of issues noted below.

(1) Against unprecedented price rise and for universal Public Distribution System

(2) Strict enforcement of all Labour Laws

(3) Concrete proactive measures for generation and protection of employment

(4) Modification of unorganized Workers Social Security act, 2008 to remove all the restrictions eon eligibility for coverage and provision for Central Funding to extend benefit to contract/casual and unorganized sector workers

(5) Against Disinvestment of profit making PSUs and for investment of Reserve & Surplus Funds of PSUs for expansion and also for revival of sick PSUs.

The Core Group recalls that the strike action has been preceded by All India Protest Day on 28^th October, 2009; Massive Dharna on 16^th December, 2009 and Satyagrah/Jail Bharo on 5^th March, 2010 by around 10 crore workers to press for the demands responding to the joint call of Central Trade Unions and Federations of Industrial and Service Sector workers. But shockingly the Government at the centre has remained totally unconcerned.

The Core Group notes that the Government of the day at the centre is aggressively promoting further deregulation of the financial sector while pushing through the process of disinvestments with great haste. During the Financial Year 2010-2011 the Government wants to exceed its target of disinvestment fixed at Rs. 40,000 crore. So far in the currenti phase, disinvestment has been done in Sutluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, EIL, NMDC, NHPC, NTPC, REC, Coal India Limited, Power Grid Corporation Ltd., Manganese Ore India Ltd. and Shipping Corporation. Government’s next targets are Hindustan Copper to be completed within December, 2010. And next in the pipeline are the follow-on offers of IOC, ONGC and SAIL targeted for the fourth quarter of the current financial year and the total amount the government targets to garner out of all these disinvestment is Rs. 59,000 crore for the current financial year itself.

Shockingly the proceeds of disinvestment is spent by the Government for funding the stimulus packages for the big-business and corporate houses on the plea of financial crisis. Further, budget deficit so incurred owing to liberal doles is filled in with the proceeds of disinvestment. The Core Group reaffirms its stand that privatization negates the path of self-reliant development of our country. Handing over the huge public assets and precious natural resources at the command of the PSUs and also the control of the strategic and core sector of the national economy to private hands, both domestic and foreign, and that too at a throw away price is totally against the socio-economic interest of the country and also defrauds the people. Apart from disinvestments and privatization, the Government of the day has been acting overtime to drastically reduce the predominant role of public sector in strategic and infrastructural sector of the economy through the route of deregulation and denial of access.

In the meantime, on one hand the number of regular employees has been consistently declining every year and has been reduced from 23 lakhs in the 1980s to 15.7 lakhs in 2007-08 and on the other hand the number of contract workers is increasing by leaps and bounds and they are being deployed in regular operational jobs. Proportion of contract workers in the total workforce has already crossed the 50 per cent mark on an average in many CPSUs. In nutshell we have to understand that contract workforce has already attained huge numerical strength. These contract workers continue to be victims of despicable exploitation in the matter of terms and conditions of employment including wages and benefits, social security and safety. Their wages are atrociously low compared to regular workers doing the same job. On the other hand, due to deployment in core operational activities, they have (contract workers) become indispensable contingent in the entire production process of the industry concerned without whom the process will simply collapse. Now denying recognition to their number and contribution in productivity and profitability is a serious threat not only to the industry but also to the t5ade union movement which has to be met with. The contract workers have to be guaranteed much better deal if not total parity with regular permanent workers.

The Core Group notes that apart from specific issues of public sector workers, the “March to Parliament” on 23^rd February, 2011 is also directed to oppose the retrograde policies of the Government allowing 100 per cent FDI on Retail Trade, Free Trade Agreement with European Unions etc. on the one hand and trying to impose drastic curtailment on Trade Union Rights and Social Security Rights of the workers through anti-workers changes in labour laws, privatization of pension etc. on the other which are going to have severe negative impact on the national economy and directly impact upon the life and livelihood of the mass of the working people.

In such a background, the Core Group of CPSTU firmly believes that the joint call for “March to Parliament” on 23^rd February, 2011 by the trade union movement of the country is a most important step towards highlighting the united movement of the working class for determined struggles against the neo-liberal policy regime. The Core Group of the CPSTU appeals to all public sector workers irrespective of affiliations to participate in the March in thousands and make it a resounding success.

H. Mahadevan

AITUC

Swadesh Dev Roy

CITU

R.A. Mital

HMS

B.V. MANOHARA

JOINT ACTION FRONT

BANGALURU

J. RAGHAVA RAO

PSU TRADE UNIONS COORDIATION

COMMITTEE, HYDERABAD

COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC SECTOR TRADE UNIONS

The emergence and sustenance of united trade movement of the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU) Workers in India has a very long history. The very beginning can be traced in the joint convention of the CPSU workers held at Hyderabad on 23-24 December 1977. That period has been significant for the reason that a new political situation emerged in the country with defeat at the hustings the most atrocious avowedly anti-worker authoritarian ‘Internal Emergency’ (June 1975 to November 1977) regime of Indira Gandhi and the Janata Party Government came to power at the centre. Although CPSTU formally came into existence a few years later, actually this convention laid the foundation stone for the CPSTU.

The period since the Hyderabad convention, the country witnessed regular hectic activities of the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU) workers jointly organised by CITU, AITUC, HMS, BMS and the two Apex Forums of CPSU workers at Bangalore and Hyderabad. The struggles took place at industry, regional and national levels.

The major issues of the period concerning which the struggles took place were against wage freeze steps of the Government, against anti-worker unilateral guidelines issued by Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) directed at curbing the right to collective bargaining, against fraud in compilation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) and proper fixation of rate of Dearness Allowance, Bonus to all workers etc etc. The other most important issue of the same period was the fight against atrocious Industrial Relations Bill designed to take away the trade union rights of the workers, opposition to Compulsory Deposit Scheme (CDS) etc.

The CITU has been taking very seriously the joint movement of the CPSU workers right from the inception. The organisational strength of CITU amongst the CPSU workers all over the country since then has been growing rapidly. Rajib Gandhi Government, in the mid-eighties, took concrete steps to ideologically and financially weaken public sector in the country. The ground work was done by the infamous Arjun Sengupta Committee Report which recommended taking away the workers collective bargaining rights among other steps. CITU took initiative to defeat this design and unify the public sector workers against such moves.

A related important development of the period was a convention of the CPSU trade the unions affiliated to CITU and also the unions friendly to CITU was held at Bangalore on 27-28 May 1985 which was attended by 284 delegates representing 84 trade unions from different CPSU workers. Reporting about the convention it was noted that, “the Bangalore convention has been a turning point in the PSU trade union movement. This initiative of CITU paved the way for consolidating the unity of PSU workers and ultimately the CPSTU came into being.”

Amidst the aforesaid on going struggles of the CPSU workers a joint national convention took place at New Delhi on 21-22 October 1986. Around 300 trade unions and 50 National Federations of the CPSU workers represented by over 800 delegates participated in the convention. A 14-point Charter of Demands (CoD) was adopted in the convention. The programmes to press for the CoD finalised in the convention included a nationwide strike on 21st January 1987. The convention expressed its firm resolve to fight the policy of demolition and privatisation of CPSUs initiated by the then Rajiv Gandhi Government.

The other historic decision of the same convention was the formation of Committee of Public Sector Trade Unions (CPSTU). The founding constituents of the CPSTU were CITU, AITUC, HMS, BMS, Joint Action Front (JAF), Bangalore and Co-ordination Committee of Public Sector Trade Unions, Hyderabad.

As a sequel to the demolition of Babri Masjid and accompanied communal holocaust in the country designed and executed by the ‘Sangh Parivar’ in 1992 the BMS got separated from the CPSTU.

CPSTU took formal shape of a united platform of the major segment of the trade union movement in the country including the core and strategic sectors through a long drawn phase of united struggles of the CPSU workers. It has truly emerged from the thick of struggles. CPSTU is the concrete manifestation of the concept of Unity and Struggle. In fact CPSTU is the longest ever united forum of trade unions continuing its active existence in the country. No other joint initiative or forums of trade unions in the country existed for such a long period. At the peak of its activities the CPSTU had really represented around 20 lakhs (2 million) workers spread over around 200 CPSU in the country.

The contributions of CPSTU strengthening the trade union movement in the country have been huge in dimension and basic in character. The activities of CPSTU contributed in broadening the functioning frame work of the major industrial sector trade union movement from the confine of factory level to industry-wise national level. The major industry-wise national federations really derived strength from the activities of CPSTU. At the instance of CPSTU the industry-wise national level joint activities of trade unions in different industrial sectors got a big boost. Thus the working class movement of the country switched over from local level consciousness to national level consciousness as a consequence of the emergence of CPSTU.

Yet another major area in which the contribution of the CPSTU must be counted the most is the realisation of PSU-wise apex level collective bargaining system. This achievement of the CPSTU has made significant contributions in many ways in our trade union movement. One of the basic rights of the workers i.e., Right to Collective Bargaining got institutionalised for the workers of the CPSUs covering the almost all the major industrial sectors in the country. This has also shown the way to others.

Over the period the compensation package of the CPSU workers achieved the height of setting standard in the country. This has been possible entirely due to the united strength and struggles of the around 20 lakh PSU workers engineered by the CPSTU. Before the surfacing of the collective agreements of the CPSU workers the situation was pitiable. But it is important to understand and remember that but for leadership provided by CPSTU in fighting the policies of the Government in restricting the right to collective bargaining and achieving quality compensation package it would not have been possible to achieve by the individual industries or CPSUs as it is before us today. These are of course, apart from the contribution of CPSTU in the general trade union movement of the country in fighting the anti-worker policies initiated by the ruling classes from time to time.

And with the introduction of the World Bank and IMF prescribed economic policies by the Congress party Government in July 1991 and pushed with added degree of onslaught by the every successive Government at the centre focusing all round attack on public sector, the fight to protect public sector became the most urgent issue before the CPSU workers in particular and CPSTU unfailingly played its historical role. Before 1991, the period preceding to the introduction of the disastrous Fund-Bank dictated economic policies, the CPSU workers conducted many long drawn battles including many strike struggles for the cause of public sector industries and its workers. These struggles were led by CPSTU. However in the current onslaught against public sector since 1991, the struggles has attained new dimension necessitating broader level of intervention of the patriotic democratic movement of the country and the CPSTU is a front ranking constituent of these struggles.

However, CPSTU is really the source of inspiration and symbol of struggles for the CPSU workers in the country. Presently the top most priority task before the CPSU workers is to protect the public sector from the liquidating onslaught of the policies of liberalisation and privatisation. At the same time the urgent economic issues pertaining to the current round of collective bargaining for the 7th round of wage negotiations is also important. CPSTU is definitely destined to discharge its historical responsibilities in this respect.