Protest against the Govt.proposal to repeal the working journalists Act: AUJ

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The full text of the protest letter may be read here:

 

To,

The Union Labour Minister

Through  the Deputy Commissioner,

 

SUB- MEMORANDUM

Respected Sir,

    Journalists Union of Assam (JUA) , an affiliate of Indian Journalists Union expresses grave concern at the central government’s attempt in passing the labour code bills . In two Labour Code Bills, one on Working Conditions and the other on Wages, introduced in the Lok Sabha the government proposed to repeal the Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act of 1955, and the Working Journalist (Fixation of rates of wages) Act, 1958 along with 11 other labour laws.

 

 JUA is surprised to see that the government sought to equate ‘fourth estate’ with any other industry, but worse has brazenly favoured the corporate media barons who have persistently been demanding to abolish the Wage Board and do away with the Working Journalists Act. The media houses time and again challenged the recommendations of the wage boards for the newspaper industry and the constitutional validity of the Working Journalists Act in Supreme Court unsuccessfully.

 

JUA wants to remind the government that the basic foundation for the Working Journalists Act was laid by the Press Commission in 1954 when it put into perspective the nature of the journalists’ job saying “his work cannot be measured as in other industries” and that “insecurity of tenure is peculiar to this profession ….unemployment would not necessarily have that result in other professions.”
 

JUA, therefore demands the government to immediately withdraw the anti working class anti journalists and media workers labour code bills immediately.

 

Yours Sincerely, Geetartha Pathak, President.