The letter refers to section 4 of the Trade Union Act 1926 to substantiate the cancellation of the union, which says that only the workers employed by the company are eligible to get union membership.

The conflict arose at auto manufacturing company Bellsonica’s Manesar plant two years ago in 2021, when the Bellsonica Employees Union granted membership to a contractual worker named Keshav Rajput. The union provides two types of membership: an ‘ordinary membership’ to the company employees and an ‘honorary membership’ to a worker from another firm (per the union’s constitution). Rajput was a worker with Bellsonica and joined in as an ‘ordinary member’.

However, the management of the firm sent a letter to the Trade Union Registrar of Haryana and requested the labour department to cancel the union’s registration. Acting upon the letter, the labour commissioner cum registrar sought an explanation from the union in December 2022. The department determined the response of the union ‘unsatisfactory’, prompting the issuance of a formal ‘show cause notice’ to the union.

In response to the show cause notice, the union temporarily suspended the membership of the ‘contractual workers’ and submitted its response. Additionally, these workers filed the contractual workers and then approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against this decision. The matter is still pending in the court currently.

Speaking with NewsClick, Mohinder Kapoor, former president of the Bellsonica Employees Union, who is currently on suspension, stated that the registrar’s decision was ‘unconstitutional’.

“The constitution gives the individual the right to unionise. When the workload and working hours of the permanent and contractual workers are the same, why should there be any difference in the rights of the contractual workers? Who is the labour department protecting here by passing such an order?”

A protest took place in Gurgaon against this decision yesterday. The protest saw the participation of Maruti Suzuki workers across all plants, along with Bellsonica’s current and former (suspended) workers. The protest took place in the form of a rally, at the end of which the workers submitted a memorandum to the district commissioner demanding the registration of the union and a firm action against the trade union registrar.

As reported earlier, a series of protests and suspensions have occurred at the Manesar plant of the Bellsonica firm. In a press conference organised by the workers earlier, they alleged that the company has been trying to dismantle the union for a long time, and the labour department is complicit in the process.

With clients such as Maruti Suzuki, which is also in the Gurgaon industrial belt, Bellsonica is a first-tier vendor in the auto sector.

In addition to 700 permanent employees, the company employs approximately 1,600 contract workers. Additionally, the workers have been planning to challenge this decision in the high court in the coming days.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Haryana: Workers Protest Against Labour Dept’s Decision to Revoke Registration of Their Union at Bellsonica appeared first on SabrangIndia.

It’s been just a month since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government returned to power after the results were announced for the Assam state Assembly Elections. And now, the central government has already started implementing policies that are being wisely seen as anti-Assam and anti-people.

It has announced the auction of two paper mills, one in Cachar and another in Nagaon. The auction is scheduled for June 30, 2021. Both the mills are now defunct. Production stopped at the Cachar mill on October 20, 2015 and at the Nagaon mill from March 13, 2017. However, this was done without even a proper closure notice! These mills were huge public sector undertakings and when they shut down, it was the end of a stable source of livelihood for hundreds of people.

Meanwhile, the wages of about 1,200 employees of the mill have been suspended for more than 50 months. The factory workers have failed to get their dues despite many protests. According to the mill workers’ union, at least 87 employees have died since the mills stopped functioning; some from anxiety due to the sudden shut down, and some because they were unable to afford medical assistance when they fell ill.

This stings more because Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself assured that the mills would be revived. While campaigning for the 2021 Assam assembly elections, Union Minister Amit Shah also promised that the paper mills would be revived.

But now it turns out that the auction process is already underway! On June 1, 2021, Kuldip Barma, Liquidator of Hindustan paper Corporation Ltd. notified that an auction will be held on June 30 of 2021 from 10 A.M to 6 P.M via this advertisement that appeared in newspapers shocking people in Assam.

The reserve price has been set at Rs. 1,139 crores. However, as per notification, the minimum incremental bid is only Rs 1 crore and the EMD amount has been set at Rs 55 crores.

Shocked by this, Manabendra Chakrabarty of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Union (JACRU), a union of employees of both mills, told SabrangIndia, “The auction process must be stopped immediately. This is important for socio-economic development and protection of future generations. Save employment and save the lives of dying workers.” He added, “If Kerala government was able to revive the mills in their state, then why not the Assam government? If the state government wants, they can. Let the Chief Minister of the state revive the two mills. He can.”

A people’s group called Forum for Social Harmony, Assam strongly protested this anti-people policy of the government. On June 2, 2021 Sushmita Dev, National President of All India Mahila Congress Committee who belongs to Cachar (Barak Valley) wrote a letter to Himanta Bisa Sarma, the new chief minister of Assam, saying, “These industries have given good dividends in the past and were viable,” adding that with efficient management, “these mills can thrive and provide employment to the youth of Assam.”

Dev’s entire letter may be read here: 

Related:

New MSME Board appoints many non-official members with BJP links
BJP’s election manifesto in Assam promises “corrected” NRC, end of “Love Jihad”
Does the Assam MSME Ordinance threaten indigenous land in the state?

The post Assam paper mill auction: Employees’ unions demand revival appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Thousands of employees associated with the Democratic Employees’ Federation and the Punjab Subordinate Service Federation have set off to join Delhi protest sites on April 11, 2021, to maintain the farmers’ struggle vigour during wheat harvest.

Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders on April 7 said full preparations have been undertaken to strengthen the protest sites. “The movement will not be allowed to weaken in any manner,” said the SKM in a press release.

While wheat farmers prepared for this year’s harvest, cotton farmers strongly condemned the increase in Bt cotton seed prices by Rs. 37 per packet by the central government. Calling it an attack on farmers, they said the new prices will put an additional burden of Rs. 14 crores on Punjab farmers alone. 

“Last year, the price was fixed at Rs. 730 per packet, whereas the supply of seeds for this season started at Rs. 767 per packet. Farmers of Malwa belt of Punjab as well as cotton growers in other parts of India will be affected by this price rise,” said SKM leaders.

They also warned the central government against falling short of their commitment to withdraw the Draft Electricity Amendment Bill. Any re-introduction and passing of the Bill would be a reneging on the commitment made, and would lead to an intensification of the agitation, warned SKM leader Darshan Pal.

Meanwhile, Haryana farmer unions warned BJP and JJP leaders that their social boycott will continue and that leaders should refrain from participation in public programs anywhere in the state. Earlier, leaders issued an ultimatum to this effect as a response to the anti-farmer attitude and behaviour.

Farmers took such actions against the backdrop of Tuesday protests against BJP State President OP Dhankar and BJP MP Nayab Singh Saini, and MLA Gopal Kanda – the State Lok Hit Party President, who voted against a recent No Confidence Motion against Khattar government – in Sirsa on Wednesday. Police used water cannons on protesting farmers. However, the SKM appealed to farmers to remain peaceful in their social boycott of anti-farmer politicians.

Further, the SKM noted that a member of the Uttar Pradesh State Women’s Commission resigned from her post in support of the farmers’ movement and invited other BJP leaders to quit their posts too.

Related:

Haryana: Farmers condemn police lathi-charge on peaceful protesters
Provide adequate budget to FCI! Protect the hungry! Demand India’s farmers
Farmers’ struggle, a battle against a single party’s communal thoughts: Punjab SKM leaders
Punjab: Contract workers put ‘No Entry’ signs for Ministers who failed employment promises

The post Employees to strengthen farmers’ protests during wheat harvest time appeared first on SabrangIndia.

George Floyd (46), passed away on May 25, 2020, hours after he was arrested by Minneapolis police officers. Video footage of his final moments showed the police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he was pinned on the floor. Even as Floyd cried, “I can’t breathe”, the officer did not let go for at least 8 minutes. Medical reports showed the cause of death being “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint and neck compression”.

On May 29, American President Donald Trump put out a statement including the words, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”, apparently in response to the protests that erupted demanding justice for Floyd’s death. The post was deemed particularly inciting for it made reference to a racist 1960 police chief who was known for ordering patrols of black neighbourhoods with shotguns and dogs, The Guardian reported.

George Floyd’s death brought about violent protests in Minneapolis, demanding that the lawless law enforcement agencies which brutally assaulted George Floyd and other members of the African American minority in the past, be brought to book. The protests led to an emergency being declared in Minnesota and the activation of the National Guard.

In his statement, Trump addressed protestors as “thugs” and said that the military would be sent in to handle the matter. The statement was posted on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and was seen as visibly encouraging violent action against those protesting police brutality.

It must be noted that as protests intensified and protestors clashed with law enforcement near the White House, the lights of the Presidential building were turned off and Trump and his family were taken to a secret bunker in the building, which was said to have last been used during 9/11.

Twitter, in keeping with its guidelines, hid the statement behind a warning which read, “The tweet violated the Twitter rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

However, Facebook refused to delete the post from its platform and even from Instagram which is owned by it. On Facebook, Trump’s post has garnered 206K likes and 34K heart emojis. On Instagram, where the text was overlaid on his photo, the post has garnered 528,098 likes.

In a personal post, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, tried to defend his action of not taking down the post by saying that though the President’s words personally troubled him and that many people were upset that the social media platform didn’t take down the statement, it was left up after a close look at the policies and because their platform encouraged as much expression as possible. A portion of his post read, “Although the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force. Our policy around incitement of violence allows discussion around state use of force, although I think today’s situation raises important questions about what potential limits of that discussion should be. The President later posted again, saying that the original post was warning about the possibility that looting could lead to violence. We decided that this post, which explicitly discouraged violence, also does not violate our policies and is important for people to see.”

Zuckerberg also took a dig at Twitter’s action to the post, understandably to justify his own and said, “Unlike Twitter, we do not have a policy of putting a warning in front of posts that may incite violence because we believe that if a post incites violence, it should be removed regardless of whether it is newsworthy, even if it comes from a politician.”

The Guardian also reported that dissatisfied with Zuckerberg’s response, some Facebook employees held a rebellion by staging a “virtual” walkout in a rare act of dissent. Members of the organization tweeted in opposition of Zuckerberg’s decision, publicly denouncing it.

Andrew Crow, Head of Design, Portal at Facebook tweeted –

Censoring information that might help people see the complete picture *is* wrong. But giving a platform to incite violence and spread disinformation is unacceptable, regardless who you are or if it’s newsworthy. I disagree with Mark’s position and will work to make change happen.

— Andrew (@AndrewCrow) June 1, 2020

Ryan Frietas, Director of Product Design for News Feed said –

Mark is wrong, and I will endeavor in the loudest possible way to change his mind.

— Ryan Freitas (@ryanchris) June 1, 2020

Today I am participating in a virtual walkout over Facebook’s recent decisions not to moderate posts that we believe violate our platform standards.

— Margo Very Stern (@wordstern) June 1, 2020

Some employees also asked the Facebook’s Oversight Board, a quasi-independent body, making decisions around content moderation to intervene into the matter, The Guardian reported. However, the board said it wouldn’t be able to do so as it was “working hard to set the board up to begin operating later this year”.

Civil Rights leaders Vanita Gupta, Sherrilyn Ifill and Rashad Robinson, heads of Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Color of Change respectively, who met Zuckerberg, issued a statement criticizing him for his decision, The Guardian reported. “We are disappointed and stunned by Mark’s incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up,” Vanita Gupta, Sherrilyn Ifill and Rashad Robison said in a statement.

Whether or not it was in light of these events, Zuckerberg posted that Facebook was committing an additional $10 million to groups working on racial justice. 

Related:

I can’t breathe
In the US, some cops take a knee, march with protesters in solidarity

The post Facebook refuses to take down Trump’s inciting statement, faces backlash from employees and civil rights leaders appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image Courtesy: Dailyhunt

As many as 80,000 employees of India’s largest provider of fixed telephony and broadband service, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) have will be asked to leave, reports say.

The state owned telecom carrier has confirmed that as many as 50 percent of the employees will be asked to leave, and the process will shortly begin. This, even as the employees still wait for their August salaries.

Protests have erupted throughout the country to oppose this move.

BSNL Chairman, Pravin Kumar Purwar confirmed the news that employees will be asked to leave, on a voluntary basis.

VRS or Voluntary Retirement Scheme will be offered to these 50% employees in the coming days.

“One of the proposals under discussion is the VRS. We are looking forward to 70,000 to 80,000 employees, and make it attractive for the employees, so that they can see value in the VRS,” he said.

He also said that even after the removal of the 80,000 employees one lakh will still be working the company and hence the company can manage with these people.

BSNL has 1.65 lakh employees as of now.

As per statements from BSNL Employees Unions, it is evident that the employees still haven’t received their August salary. This has resulted into country-wide protests.

As per P Abhimanyu, general secretary of the BSNL Employee Union, employees are devastated, as the manager still hasn’t been able to inform as to when will the salary be credited. This has caused uncertainty and chaos everywhere. Besides, more than 70% of the contract workers too haven’t received their salaries since February.

As per the Union leaders, this can be a ploy and tactics to force more and more employees to take VRS, and leave the company. More than 2000 employees have already been asked to leave.
 

The post 80,000 BSNL employees will be asked to resign, August salaries still pending appeared first on SabrangIndia.