Virender Gaur, president, Centre of Indian Trade Unions Delhi, who was addressing the meeting said that it is very essential to understand that both governments, Delhi Government led by the Aam Aadmi Party and the Union government of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are taking anti-workers measures at an unbridled pace.

He said, “The question of privatisation is looming large on our heads. If we take the examples from the Delhi-NCR region, we saw a successful struggle at Central Electronics Limited (CEL) where workers won their fight to save this precious public sector undertaking from privatisation. We are witnessing similar struggles at Container Corporation of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, New Delhi Municipal Corporation, and even Delhi Jal Board where I worked for 38 years.”

Talking to NewsClick at the protest, he said, “The most prominent example that we are witnessing of imposition of privatisation is through companies being deprived of human resources. There is no direct employment even when it is clear that 100 average employees are retiring per month.”

“When I started my job at Delhi Jal Board, it had a 35,000-strong workforce. Now, it has been reduced to 14,000 workers. It is happening at a time when the length of water and sewage pipelines has multiplied several times. The needs of the city have multiplied. It is interesting that it has a workforce of 14,000 workers whereas it has 17,000 pensioners. So, we held this convention to finalise the charter of the campaign and mobilise thousands of workers at Jantar Mantar where students, young people and people from all walks of life will join us,” said Gaur.

When asked about the efficacy of Jantar Mantar as a site for Mahapadav to build pressure, Gaur emphasised that it does have an impact and government will have to listen. “Wrestlers have been sitting at Jantar Mantar peacefully and its impact is such that PM Modi who would speak for hours on trivial issues has not uttered a word on the women wrestlers and their accusations regarding sexual harassment. It will be a historic struggle to remember in Delhi.”

Birju Nayak from Mazdoor Ekta Committee who is representing unorganised sector workers at the convention told NewsClick that the workers in Delhi are facing a strange phenomenon post-pandemic where wage rates have reduced significantly forcing both men and women in the family to seek work.

Talking to NewsClick, he said that the minimum wage in Delhi for unskilled workers is Rs 17,234 per month whereas they are only getting only Rs 9,000-Rs 12,000 per month. It has forced women in the family to seek work. “It is perturbing for the workers as health and education of them and their children are impacted. We just had a story of one worker who said that he has been visiting Employees State Insurance Hospitals since childhood. In childhood, he never heard that workers were asked to come again to campus to get medicine or buy them from chemists from their own pocket. Now, it is quite rampant,” he claimed.

Nayak added that the denial of rights to workers has exposed their children to the world of crime. He explained, “We are seeing increasing cases where young people in bastis are resorting to crimes to meet the ends. It’s a less discussed topic but children are ending up in Tihar Jail and becoming professional criminals. Had their parents been paid well and their health and education taken care of, we could have saved them.”

Dharamender Kumar Verma, general secretary, Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), told NewsClick that the living and working conditions of women workers are more exploitative when it comes to the unorganised sector. “We know that women are very much affected by inflation as they handle household chores. Gas cylinders are expensive, grocery items are expensive and so are even matchbox sticks. When they move to factories, they face discrimination and received lower payments. Domestic workers have told us stories that they cannot use the toilets in apartments which they clean. Does PM Modi not know about our plight? He says he used to sell tea. We never saw it but we know that he is selling railways. Workers are infuriated and coming to Jantar Mantar on August 9 in large numbers.”

Sidheshwar Shukla, who coordinates among the unorganised sector workers, said that the central trade unions and federations have been finalising plans to hold dharnas at labour commissioners’ offices and district magistrate offices in the next three months and finally hold a Mahapadav in the month of August to oppose labour codes, privatisation and for other demands. “It’s the first anniversary of the Mundra fire where workers died. There are questions about the safety of workers, their livelihoods and conversion of perennial posts turning into contract jobs, displacement of workers in contract-based jobs. All trade unions felt that we should come to a stage to call for action. Today we held this convention as part of a larger plan and we will hit the streets in large numbers,” added Shukla.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Delhi: Thousands of Workers to Assemble at Mahapadav on August 9 to Oppose Privatisation, Labour Codes appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Workers from over a lakh different locations across India answered the call of Central Trade Unions (CTUs,) independent associations and federations working in the field of labour rights, to hold demonstrations against the anti-labour, anti-farmer and anti-national policies of the Central Government, said a joint press release on September 23.

In Delhi, the leaders of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the All India Trade Union Congress, the Hindi Mazdoor Sabha and many others gathered near Jantar Mantar in Delhi to register their protest.

न योगी,न मोदी,न जय श्री राम
देश पर राज करेगा मजदूर-किसान!!

मोदी सरकार होश में आओ!!
किसान-मजदूर विरोधी बिल वापस लो!!
Today, Central Trade Unions protest at Jantar-Mantar@aicctukar@AICCTUhq @cpimlliberation @kavita_krishnan @Dipankar_cpiml https://t.co/xJQzfV5v1K

— AICCTU Delhi (@AICCTU_tweets) September 23, 2020

The demonstrators had gathered to condemn the three labour codes (now passed in Upper House of Parliament) introduced by the government in December 2019. These labour codes were whetted by the parliamentary committee in the Lok Sabha, empty of major opposition parties.

“The Government, hell bent on getting the codes passed in this session, not only against parliamentary norms, but in opposition to the entire Trade Union movement of the country, so that rights to strike, to form trade unions, to social security etc. can be severely curtailed,” said the joint press release.

Protests took place all over the country with citizens also adding their voice to the dissent.

Tamilnadu : Kanchipuram district

Motherson Automotive Technologies and Engineering(MATE) workers solidarity with striking Magna Cosma workers.#LTUC #magna_automotive_India #employees #protests2020 #protest #Labour pic.twitter.com/zHzdpXUVZA

— Nivi Ra (@ra_nivi) September 23, 2020

From the National Protest Day demonstration called by 10 central trade unions and many worker federations and associations in India. Incoming updates show that there are protests happening in more than 1 lakh places in the country. pic.twitter.com/613fQZozBO

— rikta (@rikta) September 23, 2020

Others reported of incidents where demonstrations were forcefully stopped by the police.

Ahmedabad Police Today cancelled the permission for Dharna to Central Trade Unions under the pretext of “Social Distancing”. While preventing the protest, we can see the “Social Distancing” being openly violated by the Police staff themselves. pic.twitter.com/SYU7HQZgQT

— dn.rath@gmail.com (@Dwarikanathrath) September 23, 2020

The speakers at Jantar Mantar also talked about the forceful passing of anti-farmer Bills. They talked about the pandemonium in the Upper House after the Centre refused to have a proper vote on the bills.

“The Government suspended the opposition MPs and got the Agri-Bills passed in their absence. The spontaneous reaction can be seen in the entire country including Rasta Roko in Punjab and Haryana by Kisans, which even led a SAD minister to resign from the cabinet in protest,” they said.

The press release also condemned the Prime Minister for “mouthing falsehoods such as denying privatisation of railways, when you can see private trains running, bypassing APMCs in the interest of big traders and corporates as being in the interest of the farmer and so on.”

A similar protest regarding the privatisation process also took place in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties staged a joint protest against the anti-farmer and anti-labour laws near Parliament premises after the Upper House was adjourned without a later date of resumption.

#WATCH: MPs of Opposition parties march in Parliament premises in protest over farm bills. Placards of ‘Save Farmers’ & ‘Save Farmers, Save Workers, Save Democracy’ seen.

Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad, TMC’s Derek O’Brien, and Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachch… pic.twitter.com/P3TB8YlpP8

— Shravan Shukla ePatrakaar (@epatrakaar) September 23, 2020

“The speakers recalled how Bhagat Singh and Sir Chhotu Ram had fought the Britishers when they tried to bring in legislation against the interests of the workers and the farmers. The incumbent BJP Government was following in the footsteps of the Britishers, using unconstitutional means again to enslave the workers and the farmers to the interests of the corporates and it was the duty of the workers and the farmers to beat them back for their own constitutional rights,” said the CTUs press statement.

Carrying forward the spirit of solidarity, the CTUS appealed to the workers to stand with their brothers, the farmers, when they go into action on 25th September, 2020.

Related:

First they came for the farmers, now they come for the workers

Labour Codes Issues: Spelling out the ABCs

New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) demands that governments retract changes in labour laws

Amendments to agricultural laws, dangerous for farmers: National Unions

The post Voices of dissent course through the country appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Rajasthan: A team of 11 members of various organizations visited the families of workers as well as police stations and courts in the Shahajahanpur, Neemrana and Behror areas, in the wake of news of police repression upon workers participating in the All India Worker’s Strike.
 
On January 8, 2019, as part of the All India Worker’s General Strike called by all central trade unions, 2000 workers in the Japanese Zone in Neemrana industrial area participated in a rally. The permanent, contract and fixed term contract (FTC) workers of the Daikin Air Conditioning Mazdoor Union took part along with workers from several other companies such as Honda, Toyoda Ghosai, Shyon Ultraware, Nidec and others.
 
The fact-finding report by these activists found that state repression upon this mobilization had already begun at 5 am with a team of bouncers attacking workers armed with lathis and chains, seriously injuring one worker named Vijay to the point where he needed to be hospitalized and treated for traumatic injuries to his head, a gashed eye, and wounds on his hips and leg.
 
“Later around 2 pm, when the worker rally reached the Daikin company gate and tried to raise the union flag, they were again brutally attacked by a combination of about 150 police and 150 hired bouncers. The workers recognized the bouncers from prior attacks motivated by the company management. The police lathi-charged workers and also deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons against women and men workers alike, grievously wounding 40 workers, with many people requiring hospitalization for fractures and head injuries. The injured workers included men and women, permanent and contract employees at various different companies, but the president of the Daikin Air Conditioning Mazdoor Union, Rukumudeen and the general secretary Daulat Ram, were also particularly targeted,” the report said.
 
On the night of January 8, between 11 pm and midnight, several workers were picked up from their homes in raids. By January 9, 14 workers were in police custody. The fact-finding team spoke to the families of several of these workers as well as to the police.
 
All the families that spoke to the fact-finding team stated the time and place of arrest to be between 11 pm and midnight on January 8, at their residence. As per the law, this means that they should have been produced before the court on January 9, within 24 hours of arrest. Instead, all the workers were produced before the court around 4 pm on January 10, 2018. This would constitute a serious violation of the law by the police and is a matter of concern.
 
When the fact-finding team enquired with the police about this, the investigating officer in the case, Jai Prakash, Shahjahanpur police station, claimed that the workers were arrested from “various places” on January 9 by the police from the Neemrana P.S., and were held there overnight. Police from the Neemrana P.S., Alwar, asked us to direct all enquiries towards the IO.
 
The Investigating Officer and the policemen from the Neemrana Police Station both resolutely refused to give any members of the fact-finding team, the workers’ family, or their lawyer a copy of the FIR which was registered at Neemrana P.S. The Investigating Officer only confirmed that a total of 14 workers had been arrested, who names were reported in the news: Mahesh Kumar, 30, from Jhunjhunu; Ghanshyam Saini, 26, from Alwar; Surendar Kumar, 28, from Himachal Pradesh (HP); Jagdev, 26, HP; Ajay Kumar 35, HP; Sukh Ram, 28, HP; Avinash Chandra, 27, HP; Praveen Kumar, 26, HP; Pankaj Chaudhary, 30, HP; Ranjeet Kumar, 26, HP; Sujit, 31, HP; Deep Singh, 25, UP; Ajay Thakur, 25, from Orissa and Lal Chand, 28, Orissa. Sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 332, 336, 353, and 427 of the IPC and PDPP were applied to the arrested workers.
 
Bizarrely, none of the workers who were arrested are named in the FIR. The FIR names and targets 17 people, starting with Rukumudeen, the President of the Daikin Air Conditioning Mazdoor Union.
 
The workers’ families state that the workers were picked up near midnight by a team of police from all 3 nearby police stations: Shahjahanpur, Neemrana and Behror, all from Alwar district. During the arrests, the police also committed excesses, kicking Deep Singh while swearing at him, while dragging him out of his home in Behror around 11 pm. Champa, the wife of Ajay Kumar, said the police who came to arrest him were drunk and disrespectful towards her. They showed up at the home at 11:45 pm when both members of the couple were unwell and resting, and Champa even lost consciousness while the police raid took place.
 
Preeti, the wife of Ghanshyam Saini, said that eight policemen jumped into their compound in Behror, without ringing the bell, shocking her and their two children, aged 2 and 3 years old respectively when they were sleeping. Her neighbour, Lal Chand Meher was picked up next, and his wife, Jyoti, showed the fact-finding team City hospital records demonstrating that he had already been injured in the lathi charge. He was prescribed medicines for a wound on his thigh. Sanjukta, the wife of Sujit, also said her husband had been injured in his leg during the lathi charge, and 12 policemen barged into her home, scaring her 8-month-old baby.
 
Sanjukta had also noticed her husband in media footage of the lathi charge clearly showing that her husband was being one-sidedly beaten by police. She asserts that he was a very gentle person who could never ever attack anyone. Ajay Thakur’s wife Sunita wondered if police were choosing to arrest those people who were visibly getting beaten by police in media coverage of the event.
 
Pankaj Chaudhary’s wife Parveen testified that the contractor accompanied the police when they came to her home where she lives with her husband and toddler. This baby was crying out for the father. Roommates of one of the workers stated that Human Resources personnel at Daikin also accompanied the police. Many workers also felt that it was not a coincidence that most of the arrested workers were not locals from Rajasthan.
 
Workers also testified that for the last several months a communal angle had been propagated by the management, targeting Rukumudeen, the Union President. Workers were told that in electing a Muslim President they were creating the potential for riots.
 
Most of the arrested workers whose families we spoke to were permanent workers, except for Deep Singh who was a casual worker. Workers felt that the unity of permanent and contract workers and the demand for permanent employment of contract workers was particularly resented by the company.
 
The first attempt at forming the union was in 2013, with a 2-month strike, but the management was able to bring a stay order against the formation of the union. A later attempt to form the union was countered by terminating most of the union office bearers and active members. Finally, on August 29, 2018, the third attempt to register the union was successful with intervention from the Rajasthan High Court, but management refused to recognize the union or negotiate with the office bearers, despite it being an independent, non-affiliated, registered trade union. In retaliation, the management transferred 15 workers into various other service locations. Since 2013 about 50 permanent workers have been sacked and countless more contract workers in the struggle to register the union. The struggle continued and on two occasions when the union tried to hoist the union flag, it was forcefully removed by the bouncers of the factory.
 
The Daikin union, however, is recognized by workers as being truly independent of management and resilient in the face of repression. It has successfully challenged unfair labour practices and enabled 70 FTC workers to join the rolls of permanent workers. With this struggle, workers state that the first plant, Plant A has shown major improvements in working conditions. However, a newly opened Plant B has more than 400 women, mostly migrants from Chhattisgarh and the North East and has the worse working conditions. Work pressure is high with high line speed and not enough provision for reliever workers, leading to constraints in taking toilet breaks and intense pressure from the management. Many Plant B workers participated in the strikes on January 8.
 
These working conditions are widely prevalent in many other companies in the area, and the consolidation of workers across many factories in Neemrana Mazdoor Manch and then Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, Alwar, was perceived as a threat by all these companies and the repression must be seen in that context.
 
Since January 8, the plant has been closed.
 
The recommendations of the fact-finding team are as follows:
 
1. The arrests appear prima facie to be arbitrary and backed by no evidence. The workers who were arrested were not even named in the FIR, which names 700 “unknown” people – this has clearly been misused as a tactic to pick up any number of workers. These false cases should be withdrawn and immediately release all arrested workers.
 
2. The deployment of bouncers to intimidate workers and their families at home and on the company premises as well as police to intimidate workers should be stopped immediately.
 
3. The use of unfair labour practices, contractualization, oppressive working conditions and retaliatory actions of forced termination or transfer of active union members should be ended.
 
4. The union should be recognized by management and the democratic and trade union rights of the workers should be recognized.
 
The fact-finding team consisted of:
 
Sumeet, Workers Solidarity Center
Yogesh, Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra
Subhash, Shramik Sangram Committee
Gunjan, Human Rights Law Network
Tarachand, Human Rights Law Network
Bittu, WSS, Karnataka Janashakti
Shailza, WSS, PUCR (Haryana)
Sarla, PUCL (Jaipur)
Nisar, PUCL (Jaipur)
Mukesh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
Nayan, Krantikari Naujawan Sabha
 

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The post #WorkersStrikeBack: Workers Unite Across India, Retaliate Against Anti-People Government appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Workers were protesting as part of the all India workers strike on January 8 and January 9 with a 12 charter demand against the “anti-labour”, “anti-people” and the “anti-national” policies of the BJP-led NDA government. The strike has been announced by Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), Trade Union Coordination Committee (TUCC), Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) and United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) after the national convention of workers that was held in September 2018.Workers from various sectors including banking, insurance, coal and non-coal mines, petroleum, post, telecom, engineering, manufacturing, steel, defence, health, education, water management and projects, power, road transport, central and state government employees and auto-taxi unions – have come in support of the strike. Apart from these, unions and associations of agricultural workers, plantation workers, scheme workers, construction workers, vendors etc. are expected to participate in the strike.

Apart from “permanent, contractual and FTC workers of Daikin, workers from Toyota, Honda, Shyon, Ultraware, Nidec and other companies in Neemrana had also joined the rally. As per the press release released by the union,” when the rally reached Daikin company gate at around 2 pm and the workers peacefully hoisted union flag at the company gate, the police and the management hired goons attacked the workers in a brutal manner. The police brutally  lathi-charged the both male and female workers and used water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets too.”

Reportedly, bouncers also joined the police and pelted stones at the workers, in the aftermath of which at least 30 permanent and contract workers, both male and female, including Union president Rukumudeen and Union general secretary Daulat Ram, were grievously injured, including serious head injury and bone fractures, and had to be admitted in nearby hospitals.

In a statement released by the Daikin Air Conditioning Workers Union (DACWU), workers have alleged that this was a “planned attack on behalf of the Daikin management and the administration.” Earlier in the day, at around 5 am, when the workers were distributing pamphlets in the area in support of the strike, reportedly, a team of bouncers armed with lathi, rod, chain etc. “attacked the workers and Vijay, a workers was seriously injured.” Allegedly, the company management hired hundreds of goons to disrupt the peaceful rally of the workers.

Yesterday, the statement said, the company management prepared to attack workers by housing hundreds of bouncers and threatening contract workers. The statement said that the management is “solely to be blamed for violence.”

Workers are seeing this as an “attempt to crush the 5 year long struggle” for the registration of a workers’ union, which eventually got registered in September, 2018. The struggle saw numerous hardships, and even termination of almost all the office bearers of the union and other leading activists. However, the company management did not recognise the union and transferred 15 worker leaders in different cities. However the workers continues their struggle for rights and justice and received support of workers struggling in various other companies in Neemrana. It is reported that when the union raised demands of permanent of contract workers, the management for more vindictive.

The union said in the statement, “Today, it was the collective show of strength of striking workers, permanent and contract, male and female, Daikin workers and workers of other companies, vis-à-vis repression and exploitation. So the management and the administration were anxious. After their brutal attack on workers, they are spreading false rumours that the workers pelted stones and destroyed police vans.”

Despite the brutal repression, the union has vowed to continue the struggle tomorrow.
 

The post Daikin AC workers brutally attacked by Neemrana police, vow to continue strike on January 9 appeared first on SabrangIndia.