CITU DEMANDS ACTION AGAINST CULPRITS RESPONSIBLE FOR AIR INDIA CRISIS

07.05.2011

CITU resents the repeated attempts by the Air India management to create industrial unrest by riding roughshod over its employees, who have genuine reasons of disenchantment and discontent caused by the hasty merger of Air India and Indian Airlines in 2007. CITU strongly feels that these are planned diversionary attempts to shield the real culprits responsible for the financial and market loss to national carrier so that the sector is monopolized by private operators under the so called “open sky” policy.

CAG’s latest report as revealed in a section of media, reaffirms that the present financial crisis of the national carrier is because of the wilful acts of omission and commission by the then Civil Aviation Minister. The report points out that Air India lost Rs 10,000 crore because it was forced into buying 111 aircrafts, it did not need and the deal was despite the fact that same would push Air India into a deeper financial crisis. CITU points out that the Parliamentary Committee on Public undertakings (COPU) headed by Shri V Kishore Chandra Deo, in its fourth report placed in Parliament on 12th March 2010 had specifically recommended that reasons behind the undue haste in merger and lack of monitoring after the merger should be probed to fix the responsibility for the same and that the government must set up an effective monitoring mechanism to review the progress made on the revised merger schedule every quarter. The committee also recommended that all the loss attributable to merger of IA and AI should be recouped by the Government as the decision of the merger was a policy decision spearheaded by the Ministry-in-charge. Govt has not taken any action on these recommendations so far.

CITU strongly denounces the govt’s lack of action on COPU recommendations and its eloquent silence on recent revelation on aircraft acquisition by Air India. CITU demands that govt should immediately implement the recommendations of COPU and order a CBI enquiry into aircraft acquisition without fail. CITU strongly feels that unless the real culprits responsible for Air India’s present financial distress are brought to book, the provocative action by AI management to create industrial unrest under one pretext or the other would continue.

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/

CITU DENOUNCES THE UNJUST HIKE IN PETROL PRICE FUELLING THE INFLATION FURTHER

15th May 2011

The UPA Govt at the Centre is in its real colour as soon as the assembly elections in four states are over. No sooner than the election results are declared, the Govt announced the steepest ever price hike for petrol—Rs 5/- per litre. This is the ninth price hike of petrol in the span of last nine months.

Centre of Indian Trade Unions condemns such price hike in petrol, it being an utterly irresponsible action by a Govt totally insensitive to the miseries of aam admi owing to continuously rising food inflation. Such steep rise in petrol price is going to have cascading effect on the already rising prices of the essential commodities, making life of the poor more miserable.

The govt’s plea of rise in price of crude in the international market to 113.7 dollar per barrel while hiking the petrol price is totally unfounded as at least fifty per cent of the domestic petrol price is the tax component going to govt exchequer and the rupee-equivalent of the crude-price in international market along with the refining cost is much less than what is being charged for petrol in Indian domestic market. Therefore making a plea of rise in international price of crude to justify the price-hike in domestic market is nothing but an act of deception.

CITU demands upon the Govt to roll back the price hike in petrol and reduce the tax-burden (both excise and customs duties) on crude and petroleum products to a rational level.

CITU calls upon all affiliate unions in particular and working class in general to unitedly protest such anti-people decision of the UPA Govt on such steep hike in price of petrol that too with such quicker frequency, fleecing the common people in such a crude manner, through mass demonstration in the work-places, joint rallies, dharnas etc.

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/

WEST BENGAL: POLITICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CITU UNIONS

WEST BENGAL: POLITICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST CITU UNIONS CITU DEMANDS IMMEDIATE STOPPING OF POLITICALLY SPONSORED VIOLENCE AGAINST CITU UNIONS IN WEST BENGAL The CITU Secretariat meeting held on 26-27 May 2011 at New Delhi expressed grave concern over the continuous violence and atrocities engineered by the hoodlums of Trinamool Congress and Congress on the trade unions and other mass organizations in different parts of West Bengal in the aftermath of the Assembly elections-result. Since May 13, already twelve were killed including two with a child burnt alive, which demonstrates extreme barbarism in the process of politically sponsored violence by the ruling regime. Reports of physical assaults on the leaders, activists and even members of trade unions and other organizations, severely injuring many, and forcing the workers to leave CITU and join TMC led trade unions are pouring in every day. The preliminary reports contain information of incidents involving violent capturing of CITU affiliated union offices by armed TMC goons in different parts of the state; tearing off CITU flags, posters, placards, festoons, banners etc; ransacking of CITU offices etc. In many places, the employers also joined the armed TMC goons in intimidating and forcing to leave the CITU union. Apart from incidents at various locations in Kolkata involving CITU trade unions in industries including Taxi and Auto Rickshow operators, Street Vendors, districts like Howrah, both the 24-Parganas, Bardhaman, Birbhum, Coochbehar also witnessed continuous violence, hurling of bombs in the office, extortion of huge money from the common workers and residents at gun-point. The Secretariat of CITU condemns such vindictive and barbarous atrocities and violence on the workers and common people perpetrated by the ruling TMC-Congress led regime keeping the law and order authority a silent onlooker to such grievous and continuing incidents of arsons, physical assaults, loot, extortions and killings. CITU demands upon the State Govt to out a stop to such continuing politically sponsored violence and atrocities on trade unions, workers and common people throughout the state. CITU also appeals to all trade unions irrespective of affiliations to raise their voice against such politically sponsored violence on trade unions and mass organization with is designed to empower the employers and capitalists to benefit from terrorizing and weakening the workers’ organizations. Continuity of such politically sponsored violence is also an assault on democratic set up putting the peoples’ interests into jeopardy. CITU Secretariat calls upon all its affiliated unions, state committees and industrial federations to unleash a countrywide campaign against the politically-sponsored violence on trade unions, workers and common people in West Bengal and observe a “Campaign-cum-Protest Week” on 6th to 11th June 2011 through public-meetings, issuing pamphlets in thousands detailing the barbarous atrocities on the workers and people in West Bengal, rallies, processions etc all over the country.

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/

MAY DAY MANIFESTO: EDITORIAL OF WORKING CLASS (JUNE-2011)

On the occasion of May Day 2011, the day of the international solidarity and unity of the working class, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) extends warmest revolutionary greetings to the entire fraternity of the working class and the toiling people of the country and the world. On this great day the CITU re-affirms its commitment to class struggle and reiterates its goal for establishment of a Socialism to ensure complete emancipation of the human society from all forms of exploitation.

FRATERNAL GREETINGS

CITU conveys its firm solidarity to the struggles of agricultural workers, poor and middle peasantry against the disastrous impact of deepening agrarian crisis under neoliberal order and for better wages, right to land, remunerative prices, institutional credit at low interest rates, and input and infrastructural support through massive public investment. CITU aspires for an effective joint struggle of workers, agricultural workers and small peasants against neoliberalism in the days to come.

CITU also conveys its fraternal greetings and message of solidarity to the struggles of the youth and students organizations for the right to education and employment and against commercialization and privatization of education which were also the offshoot of the neoliberal policy regime. CITU expresses solidarity to the struggles of women’s organizations against discrimination, violence and for their right to appropriate representation and empowerment.

CITU reiterates its commitment of solidarity to the struggles of working people in the capitalist world fighting against the onslaught on their rights to employment, living wages, social security and trade union rights unleashed by the crisis stricken neoliberal economic order. Struggles are on the rise both in the developed and also in the developing countries against the attack on their rights and livelihood by the recession stricken neoliberal capitalist order and the imperialist agencies.

CITU conveys its warm revolutionary greetings to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) for having held the 16th World Trade Union Congress in Athens, Greece, where it has been decided to carry forward the class oriented Trade Union activities and struggles against the imperialist and capitalist offensive against the working people all over the world.

GREETINGS TO SOCIALIST COUNTRIES

On this May-day, the CITU conveys its fraternal greetings to the working class of the socialist countries for their continued fight to protect the gains of revolution, to continuously improve and expand the rights and the living condition of the people in the midst of worldwide crisis of the capitalist order, and holding high the banner of socialism and defending the superiority of the socialist system.

CITU rejoices over the successes attained by Socialist Cuba in carrying forward its advancement braving the economic blockade and sanctions thrust upon it by the US imperialism. Cuba’s steadfast and uncompromising stance against US hegemonism will continue to be the source of inspiration for the toiling people’s movement all over the world.

RISING ASSERTION FOR DEMOCRACY AND AGAINST AUTHORITARIANISM

On this May-Day, CITU welcomes the rising peoples’ assertion in the Arab World against authoritarian rule and for democratic rights, which started with peoples’ uprising in Tunisia and thereafter in Egypt unseating the Hosni Mubarak Govt. This has spread like waves of similar peoples’ action in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Oman, Jordon, Morocco, Turkey, Algeria and other places opening up the possibility of changes towards a more democratic order in most of the countries. CITU notes with pride that working class played a crucial frontline role in many of these countries in such peoples’ assertion against autocracy. It also notes that unbearable sufferings of the mass of the people owing to severe economic crisis reflected in widespread joblessness, rising food prices, widening poverty among the masses, rising cost of public utilities, corruption etc and denial of rights to even voice the resentment by the repressive autocratic Govts led to such flare-up of popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, followed by other countries in the region.

While welcoming the mounting peoples’ assertion against autocratic regime in the Arab world as a positive development in world political scenario, CITU notes with anxiety and anguish the satanic ploy of US imperialism and NATO to intervene into the situation with an aggressionist approach. In Libya, NATO’s mass-scale air-strike on the vile plea of protecting civilians under the garb of UN Security Council’s Resolution, has actually killed large number of civilians, besides exposing the imperialist’s ploy to re-establish control on the Oil-rich Libya. Hypocrisy of the imperialism led by US stands thoroughly exposed when the same US administration supports the Saudi Arabian military intervention to prop up the Autocratic Khalifa regime at Bahrain in its brutal crack-down on mass of the civilians protesting against autocracy and demanding democratic changes. The same imperialists are also lending tacit support to brutal crackdown on the protesting civilians to kill and maim them by the respective despots in Tunisia and Yemen.

Therefore, while welcoming the popular pro-democracy uprising in the Arab world, CITU joins the world’s peace-loving community in condemning the imperialist’s and imperialist-backed aggressionist interventions in some of the countries.

AGAINST IMPERIALIST MACHINATIONS

On this May Day the CITU expresses its deep anguish and reiterates its condemnation against the aggressive hegemonic machinations of the imperialist forces led by US imperialism. Besides continuing its de-facto occupation on Iraq and Afganisthan, it has been in continuous quest for new areas of intervention particularly focusing on the oil-rich Arab world.

CITU reiterates its solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people in the face of inhuman military onslaught by Israel with active support of the military strength of US and its European allies. CITU also condemns the continuing conspiracy of the US imperialists to attack Iran, Syria and DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

There are indications of changes too arising out of murmuring and not so loud contradictions within the imperialist powers and their allies indicating prospect of emergence of multipolarity in the international arena. And even in the matter of NATO’s intervention in Libya, Germany and Turkey have withdrawn themselves and Germany along with Russia and India abstained from voting on UN Security Council’s resolution on Libya.

In the face of the rising opposition to its economic political and military hegemony and its increasing isolation, the US has become desperate to consolidate its influence. The US has been desperately attempting to tighten its grip over the ruling polity in the developing countries in the eastern hemisphere including the Indian sub continent. The strategic military cooperation and the Indo US nuclear deal are expressions of this intent. US imperialism has redoubled its conspiratorial attempts to weaken the opposition to its interventions and interference by the Left and other progressive forces in the developing countries, including India. Recent Wikileaks expose has thoroughly exposed as to how the US administration has long been monitoring and interfering in the day to day governance of our country including appointment of ministers, important policy decisions on both political, economic and foreign policy fronts while Indian ruling polity has been subjecting itself to that process obligingly.

RISING STRUGGLES WORLDWIDE

This year’s May Day is being observed the world-over in the midst of widespread protest mobilizations and united actions by the toiling masses against the onslaught on their rights and livelihood following the worst-ever global crisis of the capitalist order in the form of mass-scale joblosses, lay-off, closure, wage-cut etc. Despite all optimistic talks of recovery, the situation in the advanced industrialized economies of the Europe and the West continued to remain critical with rising unemployment and deep-seated recession owing to their sticking to the same bankrupt finance-capital driven neoliberal path.

Following global meltdown, public exchequers in these countries were liberally utilized to bail out the bankrupt banks and financial institutions which in turn plunged these countries, the European countries in particular in acute debt crisis pushing the Govts into virtual bankruptcy. This resulted in the respective Governments adopting a drastic cut on all public related expenditures in the name of so called austerity measures while letting the capitalist lobby a free hand to loot the workers and the people. All aspects of the working life of the people, right to employment, social security, wages, working hours etc are under severe attack by such exercise of austerity and the workers enmasse are opposing such loot and plunder through strikes and militant mobilizations all over the world. During the period since last May-Day 2010, entire Europe and also USA became a theatre of militant strike actions and massive protest mobilizations by millions of workers and toiling people from all walks of life boiling in anger owing to price-rise, unemployment, cuts in wages and social security and other attacks on their life and livelihood thereby exposing the utter inefficacy of the neoliberal capitalist order to address the basic problems of mankind. CITU garners strength and inspiration from such rising tide of the worldwide struggles by the working class, voices its solidarity which those struggles and stressed upon the urgency for sharpening those struggles to force upon reversal of neoliberal capitalist order itself.

CAPITALISM STANDS EXPOSED

The current spate of crisis fuelled by so called global financial meltdown has been the inevitable culmination of the finance capital driven neoliberal imperialist order. All aspects of economic governance are subordinated to finance capital’s lust for quickest possible gain. This crisis thoroughly exposed the extreme fragility of the world capitalist order while exploding the much-touted idea of seeking “opportunity for development” in the neoliberal packages. It has also exposed the dubious mode of operation of modern capitalism under neoliberal order. When there is a boom, there will be no regulations and the speculators will reign. They will create artificial boom by fraudulent methods using public funds for their personal or cartels’ gains. When the boom bursts, the government will rescue the collapsing institutions by public funds, but the people will continue to lose through unemployment, loss of savings, wage cut etc. This is the real face of present day capitalism under neoliberal globalisation, which is nothing but a loot and fraud on the people and the economy, integrally built-in the working of the capitalist system. On this May-day, CITU renews its commitment to work for exposing this dubious system before the people while continuing to fight against its depredations.

IN INDIA

CITU takes pride along with the entire toiling class that owing to consistent opposition and united countrywide struggle by the working class and stout resistance by the Left forces in Parliament, the financial sector of the country could not be privatised or deregulated fully, privatisation of public sector units could be halted and the country’s economy could be saved, at least partially, from inevitable collapse and disaster in the midst of global economic meltdown.

At the same times, CITU notes with anguish that the ruling polity, instead of taking lessons from the crisis has been pushing through the same failed path of financial sector deregulation and privatization and already Bills are introduced in that direction. This is also reflected in ongoing aggressive exercise of initiating a free trade regime with the European Union etc. At the same time, it has set in motion a regime of widespread corruption, loot and fraud on the mass of the people.

The intervening period has witnessed exposure of numerous cases of the worst kind of corruption involving huge loss to public exchequer in telecom, mining, construction of Common Wealth Games infrastructure, various land and housing deals etc benefiting the big corporate houses, both domestic and foreign. This is also reflected in huge drainage and accumulation of black money in foreign banks. The manner such corrupt deals are promoted by those in governance reflects the depth of criminalization and simultaneous corporate-captivity of the entire governance under the neoliberal economic order. In fact corruption got totally institutionalized and neoliberal policies paved the way for the same.

The same corruption in governance is reflected in the management of the economy under the neoliberal format. The same corrupt approach surfaced in the management of continuously rising prices, the food inflation in particular. It has become a joint venture of the Government and the corporate speculators in the commodity market where shortage and scarcity of food articles and resultant price-rise are being cultivated and promoted further to ensure windfall gains for the corporate speculators in the commodity market. The refusal of the Govt to universalize the public distribution system and dilly-dullying in Right to Food legislation are integral part of that joint venture exercise. The whole system of economic governance including the agricultural credit have been so much biased in favour of big corporate landlords and the corporate lobby in commodity trading that the small and middle peasants who produce the food grains do not get enough price for a human survival on the one hand and people as consumer pay through their nose for their food just to survive.

At the same time the mass of the people are being cruelly fleeced through higher burden of taxes and duties and drastic cut in basic subsidies like food, fertilizers and fuels. Most of the crucial inputs and commodities like fuel, fertilizers, medicines etc are being sought to be priced at par with global rates while keeping the mass of the people deprived of even the statutory minimum wages at home and/or minimum level of earnings to ensure a barely human living. The crucial public utilities like health, education, roadways, transport etc are being sought to be privatized and commercialized through so called PPP model and blue chip public sector units in strategic, infrastructure and natural resources sector are being sought to be privatized in phases at throw-away prices.

And simultaneously as a supplementary measure, all basic labour laws are being allowed to be desperately violated by the employers in collusion with the custodians of law and order. Trade unions are not being allowed to be formed in many places and rampant victimization of workers for forming trade unions has become the order of the day. The motive is to weaken the peoples’ opposition and resistance to anti-people policies and anti-national designs. The attack on the labour rights, as the history shows, has always been precursors to onslaught on the democratic rights and institutions.

And of late, active move is afoot to completely change the labour laws to legitimize the violations and empower the employers to hire and fire at will; pension system is being totally privatized to allow the pension funds to be handled by the speculators, both domestic and foreign along with switching over from a system of assured pension to a system dependent on the market forces.

On this May-day, CITU vows to redouble its initiative to unite the toiling class in the resistance to the regime of loot and plunder on people, who produces wealth and push up GDP numbers by their sweat and blood. The brutality of the employers class, howsoever atrocious it might be with the active patronage of those in governance, have to be combated by the working class through demonstration of greater unity, vigour and conviction to combat and defeat the exploitation and the exploiting class as well.

That is the challenge destined to be taken up by the working class in the coming days. In view of the set back of the Left forces in the last Lok Sabha election and a weakened Left inside Parliament, the historic responsibility to build the resistance to such grave anti-people and anti-national designs of ruling combine has fallen on the life-line of the Left movement in the country—the working class.

CITU notes with confidence, while the correlation of forces in the political arena inside the Parliament has somewhat tilted towards the right, developments outside signal differently. All the trade unions, irrespective of affiliations, came together on the same platform to raise voice against price-rise, against state-sponsored violation of labour laws, against reckless contractorisation and casualisation of workforce, against disinvestment and privatization and demanding universal social security coverage for unorganized sector workers. Workers in various sectors are on bitter struggles in respective industries. More than three hundred thousand coal workers went on countrywide strike action on 5th May 2010 against disinvestment at the initiative of CITU alone and that paved the way for all in united strike action in the industry in the days to come. In Banking and financial sector and in telecom sector also the workers protested against deregulation through massive united strike action during the intervening period. On 7th September 2011, countrywide all in united general strike by around 10 crore (100 million) workers created history in the annals of the trade union movement in the country. And as a follow up to that historic action, around half a million workers thronged in the national capital at New Delhi on 23rd February 2011 to stage militant demonstration before Parliament. On this May-day CITU calls upon the working class to widen further the all in unity of trade unions at the grass root level and carry the united struggle of the working people to a militant height to fight for reversal of the anti-people pro-imperialist policy regime.

COMBAT THE ONSLAUGHT ON LEFT AND DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT

May Day 2011 is going to be observed at a time when the country is in the midst of a grim political battle in two major stronghold states of the working class movement where the Left and Democratic forces are running the state governments. In these two states –the elections for the state legislature which has already started in the first week of April 2011 and end on 10th May, symbolizes the fight between policies of neoliberalism and the progressive forces opposing the same and fighting for pro-people alternative. It is going to be a fight between Left and democratic forces and the forces of extreme right reaction, between the pro-people welfarist policy of governance and the corporate captive policies of loot, plunder and fraud on mass of the populace. It is also going to be battle between the policy of empowering the working people and policies for subjecting them to slavery and worst exploitation for corporate sector’s windfall gain, both domestic and foreign. The working class movement of the country must stand and battle for victory of the Left and democratic forces since the aspiration of the working class for better life and expanded rights coincides with the vision of the Left forces.

On this May-day the CITU therefore calls upon the working class movement to fight and combat the grievous onslaught being perpetrated on the Left and democratic movement which always stand by the working class in all its struggles and always voice their concern and work for their victory in all the states where state legislature’s elections are taking place.

We must note that in the face of Left’s uncompromising stance against neoliberal and pro-imperialist policy regime and its successful blockade to many of their anti people projects, all the forces of right reaction aided and abetted by the imperialist agencies and the big-bourgeois-run media have become desperate in launching an all round attack against the Left movement.

Along with, concerted physical attack is also being launched against the Left and democratic movement in the strongest bastion of Left in West Bengal by the gang-up of extreme right reaction and extreme ultra-Left combine in the garb of so called Maoist outfit and all kinds of divisive and separatist forces. In Kerala all the anti-Left forces have ganged up along with the bourgeois media to carry on malicious campaign against the Left and Democratic forces to confuse the people against the Left forces.

The people of West Bengal have been physically in the frontline of this resistance struggle, bleeding and laying down their lives. The people of Kerala are also heroically combating the heinous campaign against the Left. The enemy they are fighting is the enemy of the entire toiling class, enemy of democracy, enemy of peoples’ empowerment and finally the enemy of the people. Therefore, there must be no let-up on the part of working class movement in other states in the continuing campaign to expose the game plan of the right-reactionary-ultra-left-imperialist agencies behind the continuing attacks campaign against the Left forces in these states and also in solidarity actions. On this May Day CITU pledges to rouse the working class throughout the country ideologically and organizationally, to unite and fight against the brutal onslaught on their fellow travellers in West Bengal and Kerala who always remained in the frontline of battle championing the cause of the working class and led the struggle against exploitative regime of the capitalist order.

THE APPEAL OF MAY DAY 2011

On this May Day 2011, CITU reasserts its commitment to international solidarity with the struggles being carried on by the working class throughout the globe against imperialist offensives and the neoliberal order and in defence of their rights and livelighood.

CITU reiterates its firm support to the Left forces in their struggle against right reactionary and the imperialist forces. CITU’s call to the working class to support the Left candidates in the forthcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamilnadu is part and parcel of this struggle.

CITU appeals to the working people in the country to work for building all in unity of the class to combat and confront the onslaught being brought down by the corporate captive ruling polity on the rights and livelihood of the workers at every workplace; the struggle against attack on labour rights in workplace must be supplemented by solidarity actions in all others. Solidarity actions must form an inseparable part of the day to day collective life of the working people. This is the call of May-day.

On this May-day CITU calls upon the working class to remain vigilant and fight against the divisive forces of all hues- communalism, casteism and parochialism while defending and expanding the unity of the class and the people in the struggle against oppression and exploitation.

Long Live International Solidarity of the Working Class
Down with Capitalism & Imperialism
Down with Neoliberal Imperialist Globalisation
Long Live Socialism

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/

MAY DAY 2011 AND THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

A.K. Padmanabhan

May Day in 2011 comes in the midst of serious political developments in various continents. In India, working class is involved in political and economical battles against the reactionary forces, who had grouped together in their offensive against the working class and also against the Left forces. This struggle has been intensified in view of the electoral battle in five state legislatures and especially in the states of West Bengal and Kerala.

During the last one year, working people all over the world have faced intensive offensives of the finance capital and also the Imperialist forces. Working people in all the continents have come out on the streets enmasse, to protest against these offensives.

In the United States, UK and other developed countries, recent efforts have been to go for severe reduction in public spending aimed at reducing wages, social security and other hard earned benefits of the employees and the masses in General. ‘Tea-Party’ led campaign in US, with advisors from think tanks of the like from The Economist, put every issues of workers and employees in Public Sector as issues of ‘Tax eaters’ Vs the ‘Tax payers’.

Recent enactments in the state of Wisconsin in US, curtailing democratic and Trade Union rights and rights of collective bargaining has seen huge and unprecedented demonstrations and struggles. There have been huge job cuts in health, education and other departments in many states in the US including Ohio, Indiana. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman in an article on 22nd February noted that these austerity measures are really aimed at taking away the bargaining capacity of workers. Referring to the so called austerity measures of British Govt., Paul Krugman, recently (March 2011) noted that “the Economy has stalled and business confidence has fallen to a two year low”. Even the Managing Director of IMF, Dominique Strauss Kahn, (Hindu, 16 April) “made a strong case for reducing global inequality, if economic growth has to be sustained”. Mr. Kahn argued that because unemployment was at “record” levels, the global economic recovery underway was “not creating jobs and is not shared broadly, as a result of which many people across nations faced a Social Crisis that was every bit as serious as the financial crisis”. “Mr. Kahn also warned that “what should have been a brief spell in unemployment is turning into a life sentence, possibly for a whole lost generation”.

These struggles in certain regions like North Africa and the Middle East, turned into big political upsurges – The basic slogans being bread, jobs and freedom. From Egypt and Tunisia where the authoritarian rulers had to flee, the struggle spread to various other countries in the region where repressions have been let loose on the protestors and many have been killed. There have been massive mobilisations in Yemen, Baharin, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, Turkey and in Iraq also.

Various forces have been involved in these struggles and we saw the imperialist forces led by the US and others militarily intervening in Libya while in Baharin, armies of other Gulf countries had marched in to suppress the protesters with the connivance of imperialist forces. While in Libya, NATO has moved in with heavy armoury in the name of saving the Libyan people, in Baharin it is at the request of the hated rulers to ‘save the country’. In Yemen, the much hated President Ali Abdullah Saleh a trusted ally of the Western Countries, continues his massive repression; about which the democracy loving Western Countries have no concern!

As Comrade Fidel Castro has rightly said on the war on Libya, we should raise our voice “in favour of immediate peace and full respect for life and rights of all citizens, with no foreign intervention that would only serve to prolong the conflict and NATO interests.”

We saw the Nobel Peace laureate US President Obama declaring war against a sovereign country, all in the name of a UN Security Council resolution, on which even the permanent members as well as a few other members of UN Security Council had expressed apprehension. Recently BRICS summit in China has also opposed use of force! The game plan of the imperialist forces have to be understood by the working people all over the world. For the imperialists, the only question to use their deadly armed forces with most modern weaponry to attack a sovereign country is whether it is with them or not!

HORROR IN JAPAN

During this period we experienced the nature’s fury in various countries in different parts of the world but the most dreaded situation has been that in Japan. Added to the earth quake and Tsunami, the meltdown in nuclear plant in Fukushima have brought out many issues regarding the safety of nuclear power stations and also how the profit mongering corporations, both equipment manufactures and power producers have not been caring for the safety of the people. These types of questions, though not such a very serious and threatening situation, were also raised at the time of Oil Spilling by BP in the Mexican waters! For the corporates, it is profits and profits alone that matters!

These happenings in nuclear plants in Japan, now have their repercussions in various countries including India. The much hyped campaigns on nuclear agreements with US are now being questioned. It is becoming more and more clear to even those who supported it at that time, that the nuclear agreements and related issues were part of a large-scale programme of subjugating India into an ever obliging ‘strategic’ ally. While Wikileaks, on the whole exposed the U.S. imperialists, the India related exposures have brought out the extent to which the U.S. tentacles are spreading. There is no area of administration where they are not involved directly or indirectly. It is also exposed how political and administrative leadership in the country has willingly become their tools.

It is for the working people in the country to be vigilant and to understand the severity of these developments and take up real class positions and mobilise themselves to challenge these reactionary, anti people forces.

INDIAN SITUATION

Working people and their Trade Union organisations in India can take credit to the fact they could come up on a united platform to take up at least some of the immediate demands of the people as a whole and demand a change in policies related to these issues!

The powerful countrywide strike after the last May Day, on 7th September 2010 and the massive March to Parliament on 23rd February 2011, with an unprecedented participation of men and women workers are the silver linings in the present situation. The neo liberal policy offensive finds the ruling alliance and the main ‘opposition’ party coming together on ‘policy’ issues, while they continue to quarrel and grab head lines on various other issues! Latest in these ‘united moves’ was the unity expressed by voting for the introduction of the PFRDA bill in the Lok Sabha on 23rd March! Exactly after a month of the Delhi rally by all unions, which demanded social security to unorganised workers, the bill is being brought to snatch away even existing benefits and mobilise every possible rupee even from unorganised workers, to the share markets!

This brings out the reality of the situation that when it comes to policies of liberalisation and serving the interests of the multinationals and investors, it is the class that matters and not the colour of the flags or the location of seats in the Parliament!

It is our responsibility to see that the unity that could be forged among the Central trade Unions and National Federations is further expanded and strengthened with the anti-working class, reactionary forces preparing to further unleash all out attacks on the working people in this country. The importance of united resistance, that too at the grassroots level have to be underscored. It is obvious, that more and more attacks are in the offing. This unity of the working people have to be further strengthened by also mobilising all the progressive sections of masses and their organisations like that of peasants, agricultural workers, youth and women who are prepared to take up these issues along with their own issues and struggles, For the workers, various forms of inhuman exploitations have to end. We should be able to link up this with our day to day issues. With the deepening crisis of the capitalist system, the offensive against workers are bound to increase. This reality has now been underlined once again by the just concluded 16th Congress of World Federation of Trade Unions in Athens, Greece. WFTU, after its reorientations to its class characteristics at the time of its foundation in 1945 and the presently required updating has declared itself as a platform for more united movements and struggles of the working people all over the world. The clarion call of the Congress, for struggles against imperialist offensives and the barbaric capitalist system and for a exploitation free world has to be taken down to the workers and toiling masses in our country, so as to further enlighten them towards the class orientation of our trade union movement.

At the same time, the issue based united movement in our country has to be further strengthened. On this May Day, when we raise our clinched to salute our class brethren all over the world, let us pledge to carry forward these tasks and the revolutionary tradition of this Historic Day.

Long live May Day.
Long live Working Class Unity.

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/

‘WORKERS RISE UP! AGAINST CAPITALIST BARBARISM, FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, FOR A WORLD WITHOUT EXPLOITATION’ – 16TH CONGRESS OF WFTU

K Hemalata

The 16th World Trade Union Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which concluded on 10th April 2011 in Athens, Greece, called upon the working class all over the world to unite in the struggle to protect their hard won rights, which were under intense attack on the pretext of global economic crisis. It called upon the workers to achieve their contemporary needs and those of all sections of the toiling people, and to achieve a just society. It has categorically asserted that this was not possible under the present capitalist system. 881 delegates and observers representing workers from different sectors and industries in 105 countries in 4 continents participated in the Congress. CITU, which has recently decided to get affiliated to WFTU, was represented by 20 delegates led by its president AK Padmanabhan and Swadesh Dev Roye, secretary and head of its international department. 6 representatives of All India State Government Employees’ Federation (AISGEF) led by Sukomal Sen, vice president of CITU and former general secretary of Trade Union International of Public and Allied Employees also participated in the Congress.

The WFTU Congress started at the Faliro Pavilion with great enthusiasm on the evening of 6th April 2011.Mohammad Shabban Azzouz, President and George Mavrikos, General Secretary of WFTU led the delegates and observers around the pavilion to a thunderous applause, waving of flags and slogans by more than 5000 people – most of them young women and men, workers and students - who assembled there to participate in the inaugural ceremony. A 35 member presidium comprising the Presidential and Financial councils of WFTU, and representatives of South Africa, Arab countries, ACFTU and CITU presided over the public meeting. CITU was represented in the presidium by its national secretary, Hemalata.

The delegates’ session started on 7th April and held serious discussions on the ‘Athens Pact’ presented by George Mavrikos. A K Padmanabhan, Swadesh Dev Roye and Sukomal Sen were in the presidium in the different sessions.

Being held in the background of the global economic crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the discussions in the Congress were mainly focussed on the impact of the global economic crisis on the working class and the strategies that needed to be adopted by the working class movement at the national and international levels to protect the interests of the workers. The report pointed out that the sharp rise in unemployment, dramatic shrinking of the real income of the workers, the reduction of social spending budgets, raising the retirement age etc show the parasitism and decay of the capitalist system. Hiding the real fact that it was the toiling masses who were actually bearing the brunt of the crisis, the problems arising out of the crisis were presented as ‘national problems’ to impose further burdens on the workers and the common people so that the capitalists, who were responsible for the crisis in the first place, could protect and further increase their profits. In Britain, the income of the rich increased by 30% last year; the number of billionaires increased from 43 to 53; 9 of them increased their wealth by more than 1 billion Euros in the last year.

In the USA, while the official unemployment rate is 9.5%, if the number of those who could not find full time jobs and those who, unable to find any employment, stopped looking for work were also included, a whopping 19% of the total workforce is daily confronted with the spectre of unemployment. In several countries, unemployment has reached alarming proportions of upto 30% driving large sections of youth to crime and anti social activities. While science and technology have recorded huge advances, the benefits of these advances are denied to the common people. Today the world has the necessary resources and expertise for increasing global food production to meet the needs of the entire population on the planet. Yet, the number of hungry and malnourished is increasing. As per FAO, more than 10 crores people joined the ranks of the poor after the beginning of the crisis. Hunger was not limited to the developing countries alone. In the USA, the richest country of the world today, 4.9 crores people suffer from malnutrition. 1.7 crores children in the USA live in households unable to provide daily meals; the number of children in the US who were left with no food at all for one day or more jumped from 7 lakhs to 11 lakhs within a year.

In 15 countries including Afghanistan and several African countries, life expectancy at birth is as low as 45 – 49 years. It is lower for women, hundreds of thousands of who die due to lack of medical care during child birth and suffer from anaemia and malnutrition. In 37 more countries, life expectancy at birth is 50 – 59 years.

The WFTU Congress strongly criticised the prescriptions of the World Bank, IMF and WTO for the development of the third world countries and demanded that the debt of the third world countries should be cancelled now. It declared that the debt in fact, does not exist; it has been repaid by these countries many times. The real debtors are those who exploit the people and the rich resources of the third world countries.

The ‘Athens Pact’ asserted that the present global economic crisis was neither the first nor would it be the last under capitalism. Such crises were systemic of the capitalist mode of production; there can be no convergence of economic and social achievements in a capitalist society.

The WFTU Congress noted the experiences of the great struggles of the working class in different countries such as in Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Asia, Africa, Latin America etc, Mexico, and the USA etc against the attacks on their working and living conditions. Similarly the recent struggles against rising food prices, unemployment and democracy in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Jordan, etc indicate that people, particularly the young were getting mobilised to fight for their rights. These were positive developments indicating that the crisis provided opportunities for the awakening of the working class and the people, though equally serious problems coexist.

Unless there was a class oriented approach, there is a risk of these various outbursts or spontaneous movements to be quickly deflated or manipulated. Without persistent and consistent struggle against monopolies and imperialism and their associations, and without showing a complete alternate perspective, it would be easy for imperialism to redeploy its forces and to counterattack.

The Congress stressed the need for united struggles and united tactics of the labour movement. Such unity should not be just for the sake of unity, but to overthrow the power of monopolies and for convergence of the movements for another way of development. With such unity, solidarity and coordinated struggles, the working class could achieve gains and protect them. It was decided to organise an international meeting of trade unionists to discuss the issue ‘Our work and coordination within Multinational/ Transnational companies’ by the end of 2011.

The ‘Athens Pact’, unanimously adopted by the Congress also pointed out that the working class, when united on a class basis, can bring to their side other sections of the people like the poor farmers, the self employed, and the tradesmen, as allies in its struggle against the monopolies and big capital. It warned that the opponents and enemies of the workers were uniting forces under their own umbrella with the single minded objective of suppressing the working class movement. The workers must be made conscious of the need of united struggles. Highlighting the importance of paying special attention to organise women workers, it was pointed out that in all capitalist countries working women face cruel exploitation. Unemployment among women is higher than among men. They are the last to get jobs and the first to lose them. They mostly work in part time, insecure, uncertain and casual jobs; they are paid less than men; women get lower pensions; violence against women is increasing in all countries; prostitution was spreading; hundreds of thousands of women are forced to migrate within and across countries in search of employment. The proportion of illiteracy, poverty and hunger are disproportionately high among women. For example, 3/5 of children who do not go to school in the European Union are girls; 90% of the 1 million people who are victims of trafficking every year are women and girls.

Significantly 32% of the delegates to the WFTU Congress were women. A separate session of women delegates was held on 7th April, which was attended by the general secretary of WFTU. It was decided to organise an international conference to discuss the issues of working women in detail and constitute a preparatory committee for this.

The Congress also noted with concern the low level of trade union organisation among the young workers. From the state of trade union organisations in the sectors, which had huge presence of young workers, it was clear that the young workers were mostly out of the purview of the trade union movement. They are compelled to keep a distance from the collective action and struggles. They become the target of multifaceted exploitation not only because at work they perform the more precarious, casual and low paid jobs but also because they are targeted by the spread of drugs, child prostitution, illiteracy etc. The need to reach out to the young workers and make special efforts to organise them and to convince them to play a decisive role in revitalising the trade union movement of the working class and not to remain as spectators, was emphasised.

The 16th Congress of WFTU was informed of the progresses made in the activities after the last Congress in Havana on 4-5 December 2005. The headquarters of the organisation was shifted to Athens and the meetings of the presidential council were regularised; efforts made to improve proper functioning of the different Trade Union Internationals (TUIs), though still there were some which were not functioning regularly; several international conferences and conventions om several important issues were held; an international conference of working women was held in Brussels. These efforts were reflected in the increased and enthusiastic participation in the 16th Congress. It was decided to further improve the coordination among the regional offices and the TUIs and the relations of TUIs with the WFTU.

The 16th Congress of WFTU re elected Mohammed Shabban Azzouz from Syria as president and George Mavrikos as the general secretary. A 40 member new presidential council including AK Padmanabhan and Swadesh Dev Roye from CITU was also elected by the Congress. AK Padmanabhan was elected as vice president and Swadesh Dev Roye as secretariat member. The Congress expressed confidence that by the time of the next Congress when WFTU would celebrate its 70 years, thousands of new trade union cadres, young men and women workers would be developed and promoted to strengthen the class struggles and will deliver to the next generations a world without exploitation.

Courtesy: www.citucentre.org/