COMRADE PANDHE HAS WRITTEN THE FOLLOWING LETTER TO SHRI MANMOHAN SINGH

Press Release
29th May 2010

Shri Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India

South Block

New Delhi – 110 011

Dear Prime Minister,

I would like to draw attention to the present situation in Air India due to high handed policy adopted by the Chairman of the undertaking. If the present situation is allowed to continue the very existence of a premier Public Sector Undertaking will be at stake.

It is a matter of great concern to the trade union movement in India that the Reports of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Transport and Tourism as well as Committee on Public Sector Undertakings have indicted both Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India management for the present mailace in Air India.

However both of them have failed to take any action in the matter. I would earnestly request you to find out why no action is being taken on both these reports by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India management.

If a high power enquiry is conducted you will find that both the Minister of Civil Aviation and Chairman Air India are doing everything to promote private sector companies in Civil Aviation and damaging the interest of Air India. The present Chairman of Air India is openly promoting communal elements in Air India and suppressing well established and recognized unions in the undertaking.

The present Chairman has destroyed bipartite relations in the public sector undertaking and behaving in an autocratic manner even with the senior executives of the company. I have received several complains personally from executives of Air India. There is urgent need to enquire the links developed by CMD of Air India with some private concerns at the cost of public sector undertaking.

I would like to draw your attention that both Indian Airlines and Air India were breaking even when they were merged. How it has incurred heavy losses after merger? The reports of Standing Committee and COPU have thrown some light on the question but it is being nonchalantly ignored by the Minister of Civil Aviation and CMD of Air India. The present Chairman has derecognized the major unions and sealed their offices while large number of employees have been summarily dismissed or suspended.

Please note that trade union movement in India will not be a silent spectator if the suppression of trade union rights are such a blatant manner is allowed in India. The policies pursued by Minister of Civil aviation as well as Chairman Air India are clearly directed to give advantage to the private sector companies and close down the premier public undertaking in India.

You will appreciate that since 1st January 2007 no improvement in living conditions of the employees has taken place while management unilaterally withdrew several existing benefits without even discussing with the trade unions. The employees were not paid even bonus last year yet the employees were peaceful and co-operated with the management to improve the performance of the undertaking.

However, the objective attitude shown by the employees is considered by the CMD as their weakness and he has been trampling underfoot legitimate struggles of the employees. I am informed that the employees of Air India will resort to one day strike on 12th June 2010 to protest against the highhanded policy of the CMD. Due to large scale victimization the employees are agitated and desire that all victimization measures should be withdrawn and recognition of the union should be restored.

If the strike materializes the passengers will be greatly inconvenienced but for that the management of Air India will be solely responsible. I hope you will view these developments with concern and intervene in the dispute so that normalcy is restored and Air India can march ahead despite unhealthy competition indulged in by the private civil aviation companies.

With personal regards,

Yours sincerely,
(M K PANDHE)

Vice President

VERDICT ON BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY –TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE AND GOVERNANCE - CITU

Press Release

07-06-2010

CITU is shocked to note that after 26 years of world’s biggest industrial disaster claiming 25000 lives and leaving millions perpetually sick in and around Union Carbide factory, Bhopal, the verdict has come making mockery of administrative and legal process in the country. From the very beginning, various institutions of the judiciary including the apex court diluted the crime against people of India and Bhopal in particular committed by an American MNC. CITU notes that the Government miserably failed to book all those who were responsible for this mass murder before the court of law in suitable manner. This judgment will encourage other corporate, both Indian and foreign, to ignore all safety norms in otherwise accident prone industrial scenario of the country as they can get away scot-free in the eventuality of disasters like Bhopal Gas Tragedy. CITU demands stern action against all those, including erstwhile CMD of Union Carbide as criminals. CITU further demands that all the victims have to be compensated adequately. CITU further warns the people of India of similar accidents if the Government of India continues its strategic flirting with US as evident from the Nuclear Liability Bill brought before the Parliament to serve the interests of U.S Government and American nuclear manufacturers.

TAPAN SEN, MP, GENERAL SECRETARY, CITU WRITES TO PRIME MINISTER (on reports of deregulation of Petrol & Diesel pricing)

5th June 2010

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

There are disquieting reports that Empowered Group of Minister(EGOM) is scheduled to take up the issue of deregulating the pricing of petrol and diesel on 7th June 2010 as per Kirit Parikh Committee which is likely to increase price of these petroleum products by Rs. 3/- to Rs. 3.50 per litre. Such a decision apart from the cascading effect on the present unbearable inflation will also go against the following unanimous recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas placed in Parliament on 22.04.2010.

“The Committee note that the Expert Group headed by Dr. Kirit Parekh Committee has made several recommendations on ‘viable and sustainable pricing of petroleum products’. In this regard, the Committee urge the Government not to consider the expert group recommendations in isolation but to give due weightage to the recommendations made by the Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in their 6th and 10th Reports (14th Lok Sabha) on ‘Pricing of Petroleum Products’.”

You will kindly agree that Executive is accountable to Parliament and not vice-versa. Therefore the above recommendation read along with recommendations about made in 6th and 10th report (14th Lok Sabha) cannot be sidelined / ignored by Parikh committee appointed by the Executive. This in my humble opinion will to a large extent erode the credibility of Parliamentary Committees and Parliament. I therefore urge upon you to advise the EGOM not to take any decision before getting the same examined by the Parliamentary Committee constituted for this purpose.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,
Sd/-TAPAN SEN

Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister

Government of India

CITU ON DOUBLE DIGIT INFLATION

Press Release
15-06-2010

STOP GIVING EMPTY ASSURANCES

CITU ask Government to desist from giving empty assurances time and again that inflation will come down when the same has reached the highest during last 19 months. The prices of essential items like pulses, vegetables, sugar have become unbearable and the Government’s only visible action is limited to such assurances without any relief to the common man reeling under the impact of rising prices.

CITU demand immediate action by the Government to revitalize the Public Distribution System, to immediately reduce taxes on crude oil and petroleum products and to withdraw the hike in prices of gas to curb fuel price inflation which has cascading impact on inflation. CITU also demand imposition of a complete ban on futures trade on all essential commodities.

CITU urges that in view of high inflation the Government should increase the statutory minimum wages, increase the rate of interest on provident fund and increase Government’s contribution to Employees Pension Scheme.

CITU calls upon the working class to prepare for countrywide united struggle including massive all India Strike so that the present Government is forced to give priority to inflation and price control instead of its present focus on the so called GDP growth and disinvestment of public assets.

CPI (M) ON STRUGGLE AGAINST DISINVESTMENT

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from May 5 to 7, 2010. It issued the following statement.

The Central Committee extended its full support to the public sector employees who are struggling against disinvestment of shares in enterprises such as the BSNL, Coal India etc. The CPI (M) calls upon all sections of the people to oppose the government’s short-sighted policy of disinvestment and privatization of the public sector.

Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010

COAL MINERS STRIKE AGAINST PRIVATISATION - K Pandhe

A MAJORITY of coal miners across the country downed their tools against the decision to disinvest 10 per cent of the shares of Coal India in share market. The UPA government has made this disinvestment as a pre-condition to accord the navaratna status to Coal India.

All the five recognised federations of coal miners, namely the Indian National Mine Workers Federation (INTUC), All India Coal Workers Federation (CITU), Indian Mines Workers Federation (AITUC), Hind Khadan Mazdoor Sangh (HMS) and Akhil Bharatiya Khadan Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) had, in a meeting held at Ranchi on March 27, decided to organised a three-day strike on May 5-7, in protest against the decision of the UPA government to disinvest 10 per cent shares of Coal India. They also opposed contractisation, outsourcing and allotment of coal blocks to private operators. It was decided to serve strike notices on April 19, jointly while holding demonstrations.

A big campaign was unitedly launched all over the country, creating enthusiasm among the coal miners. The union coal minister called a meeting on April 9 to discuss the issues but it could not come to any conclusion. Hence, the united strike preparation continued all over India.

The government of India had introduced a bill in parliament nearly a decade ago to denationalise the coal mines in India. However, due to the threat of an indefinite strike given by all the trade unions, the government could not bring the bill for consideration of parliament. Yet, through the backdoor, over 200 coal blocks with coal reserve of over 70 billion tonnes were given to the private sector. The mine owners were paying paltry wages to the workers and violating all the labour laws.

Several accidents occurred in such mines but they were rarely reported. Trade unions therefore demanded cancellation of all the blocks allotted to the private parties.

MAJOR DEMAND NOT CONCEDED

The union minister called another meeting on April 10, to consider the workers’ demands. However, he was not prepared to withdraw the disinvestment move regarding coal blocks. He announced the decision of the government to auction the blocks to get more money but on disinvestment he did not give any commitment. He only gave a vague assurance to consider some minor demands raised by the trade unions. It is surprising that in the meeting the leadership of the INTUC, BMS and AITUC agreed to withdrawn the strike without any commitment on the main demand of opposition to the policy of disinvestment.

The CITU and HMS served strike notices on April 19, as jointly decided by all the unions. They continued their campaign and received wide support from the coal mines all over the country.

The unilateral withdrawal of the strike without achieving the main demand created strong resentment among the coal miners all over the country. The CITU appealed to all the workers to carry forward the struggle against privatisation and not to withdraw the struggle.

Jibon Roy, general secretary of the All India Coal Workers Federation, visited the coal mines and appealed for unity of all the miners to oppose privatisation.

On April 30, union finance minister called a meeting of the central trade unions to consider the outstanding issues. In the meeting all the trade unions opposed disinvestment and allotment of coal blocks to private parties. However, Pranab Mukherjee nonchalantly defended the policy of the government to download the shares of Coal India in the share market. Coal India chairman Partho Bhattacharya offered one per cent of the share holding to the workers at concessional rates to make them ready to accept privatisation. The CITU rejected the proposal and called it a measure to bribe the coal miners in return for acceptance of privatisation of coal mines.

The CITU expressed its readiness to defer the strike, provided another date was announced by all the trade unions. However, the CITU’s appeal fell on deal years.
Taking into consideration the mood of workers in all the coal mines, the CITU decided to go in for a one day strike on May 5, in support of the 10 point charter of demanded submitted by all the five federations on March 27. Several local unions supported the call of the CITU.

The Coal India management carried on false propaganda on May 4 that the CITU had withdrawn the strike. But it failed to cut much ice among the workers. The workers were aware of such dubious methods of the Coal India management.

REMARKABLE RESPONSE

According to the reports received in the CITU central office in Eastern Coalfields, the strike was near total. Even the headquarters of ECL were completely closed down. In the entire Raniganj coal belt, production and despatch was stopped. Non-CITU unions did not openly oppose the strike in the ECL.

In the BCCL, more than 70 per cent workers went on strike and the local newspapers admitted the success of the strike. The headquarters of the BCCL were seriously affected by the strike. Some trade union leaders tried to oppose the strike but were hooted out by the workers. The coal mines under IISCO observed total strike.

The strike was 60 per cent in the Central Coalfields Ltd; in some areas it was complete. The despatch of coal too was seriously affected. Workers of the CMPDIL also joined the strike in good strength.

In the Mahavadi coal field, two third of the workforce is working under contractors. They have been fighting against exploitation by the contractors. Majority of the contract workers went on strike on May 5.

In the South Eastern Coalfields, several areas witnessed successful strike. On the whole, the strike was 50 per cent successful in all the coalmines. In the Western Coalfields, the CITU strenuously campaigned for the success of the strike and more than 50 per cent workers in the entire colliery joined the strike on May 5. Some leaders, who were campaigning against the strike, were asked by the workers why they had withdrawn the action programme without achieving the demand.

In CIL headquarters in Kolkata, Trinamul Congress leaders tried to oppose the strike but the workers snubbed them. Strike in all the coal offices in Kolkata was successful. The workers had earlier demanded that in Kolkata they should go in for a three-day strike.

In the North Eastern Coalfields the strike was successful; a very small number of workers attended duty on that day. In the Northern Coalfield Ltd the strike was partial but yet the number of workers joining the strike was sizeable.

The overall support to the strike in all parts of the country clearly indicated that an overwhelming majority of workers had expressed their opposition to the privatisation policies pursued by the UPA government.

The CIL management in several mines threatened the workers to cut eight days’ wages for participating in the one-day strike. But coal workers did not pay any heed to such threats.

The All India Coal Workers Federation has congratulated the coal miners for their remarkable action. In its meeting on May 25-26, the federation will make a detailed review of the strike and chalk out further programmes of action to oppose the policies of disinvestment and privatisation.

Source: People’s Democracy dated 16-05-2010

TRADE UNIONS TO STAGE FURTHER ACTIONS

REPRESENTATIVES of nine central trade unions, viz the CITU, BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU and UTUC, met on April 13 under the chairmanship of INTUC president Dr G Sanjeeva Reddy, MP, and reviewed the joint action programme including the countrywide satyagraha and Jail Bharo programme on March 5. More than 10 lakh workers participated in the programme that was a great success.

The trade unions expressed deep concern over the unrelenting price rise and the government’s total inaction to mitigate the sufferings of the common people, particularly the unorganised labour. The trade unions firmly protested against the increase in petroleum products prices due to levying of additional taxes. This is exactly a step that has further inflamed the food prices.

The trade unions noted with concern the unmitigated violation of labour laws, uninterrupted job losses, continuous disinvestment of government equity in public sector units. The trade union registration depends upon the sweet will of the managements and the government machinery. This is a totally unacceptable situation, more so because the government has not taken any single step whatsoever to look into the problems of distressed working masses.

United action is, therefore, the only remedy to halt price rise, curb the criminality of corporates against the working class and bring the government to its senses.

The central trade unions welcomed and supported the decision of telecom workers to go on an indefinite strike from April 20, protesting against disinvestment of public sector telecom industry. They also extended full support to the three day strike of coal workers on May 5-7 against privatisation and contractisation, and said more such sectoral actions must be organised.

The central trade union organisations called upon the public sector trade unions, irrespective of affiliations, to unite and hold massive joint protest demonstrations in all the PSUs against disinvestment and contractisation during the period of BSNL and coal strikes and send telegrams to the prime minister.

The central trade unions called upon the working people of the country to prepare for a massive industrial action including a strike. Having this perspective in view, the central trade unions have decided to convene a National Convention of Trade Unions in July 2010 at New Delhi. They have urged their state constituents and federations to participate fully in the joint action programmes.

Source: People’s Democracy dated 18-04-2010

CITU CONGRATULATES COAL WORKERS FOR ONE DAY SUCCESSFUL STRIKE ON 05-05-2010 AGAINST PRIVATISATION

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CENTRE OF INDIAN TRADE UNIONS CALLS UPON THE COAL WORKERS TO JOIN THE INDUSTRY-WIDE STRIKE ON 5TH MAY, 2010

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INTERNATIONALISM OF THE WORKING CLASS

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