M A I N   N E W S

Trade unions to go on strike against SC ruling
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh keeps out
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 26
A day after the Central and state government employees decided to go on a nationwide strike against the Supreme Court’s “adverse judgment” on strikes, leaders of all Central trade unions, barring the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), today resolved to observe “National Protest Day” on the second day of the next Budget session.

They will also organise a countrywide “general strike”, the date for which is to be decided shortly, to “defend” the universally accepted right of the workers to go on strike when democratic means fail to get their grievances redressed.

At a national convention, jointly organised by eight Central trade unions, AITUC General Secretary Gurudas Das Gupta and others said the judgment should not be seen in isolation, but as part of a deep-rooted conspiracy of the NDA government to impose its “anti-worker and anti-labour economic policies” on the working class.

More than 4,500 leaders and delegates of the Central trade unions began deliberations in Vithalbhai Patel House to plan the strike.

In a draft declaration, the trade unions said the country was passing through a critical time when there was a calculated attack on the working class to deny them their genuine rights. The declaration demanded that the Tamil Nadu government be asked to reinstate all victimised employees, withdraw the order derecognising all government employees’ unions, stop repressive measures and initiate negotiation for amicable settlement of all issues.

Urging the NDA government to take urgent steps, including Constitutional amendments, to nullify the impact of the judgment, the trade union leaders said if the government “remained insensitive” to their demands, they would intensify their agitation.

Mr Das Gupta said the judgment was a sign of “fascist design” of the NDA government and the workers’ right to strike could only be defended by going on strike.

“This is an alarm not only for the trade unions but also for the entire working class facing unprecedented hardships due to increasing unemployment, lock-outs and retrenchment,” he said.

He also referred to yesterday’s meeting between Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and Law Minister Arun Jaitley which went into the ways to privatise HPCL without taking Parliament’s approval.

CITU general secretary M.K. Pandhey, INTUC president Sanjeeva Reddy and HMS leader Umramal Purohit called for a broad-based unity of the working class to “give a befitting reply” to the NDA government’s “designs” to impose “pro-imperialist economic policies” on the country.

Leaders of the Central and state government employees are also participating in the convention.