Trade Unions observe massive strike in Ludhiana in support of its demands

Ludhiana, September 2, 2016: On a call given by Central Trade Unions and various independent federations, unions and associations, the workers affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), INTUC, CTU, and CITU observed strike today in their respective industries and other institutions. Thereafter they gathered at bus stand and organised a massive protest rally in support of their demands. The unions of workers of Punjab Roadways and PRTC had already struck work and so there was a total Chakka Jam at the bus stand. The protestors included large number of women, construction workers, industrial workers, Hosiery workers, Bank, Electricity, PSSF, Public health workers, contractual workers, Corporation workers, roadways and others sections of workers and employees. Today’s protest rally was presided over by Com Om Parkash Mehta - AITUC, Shri Gurjit Singh of INTUC, Com Paramjeet Singh of CTU and Com Jagdish Chand of CITU.
Speaking on the occasion Com. Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal-General Secretary AITUC Punjab, Com. Vijay Mishra-President CITU Punjab,Com Inderjit Singh Grewal-President CTU Punjab, Sh.. Sarabjit Singh Sarhali-Vice president INTUC Punjab exposed the blatant lie by the government that they have agreed to increase the daily wage to Rs.350. In fact this will effect only the contractual workers in a selected few central government sectors and this forms a miniscule number out of the 45 Crore work force in the country They also exposed the finance minister Arun Jaitley for lying that this was as per the advisory board meeting on 29th August. The fact of the matter is that he left the meeting in between and then gave this false statement. Speakers also criticized the BMS for not joining the strike at the behest of the RSS. They further said that the completely unheeding attitude of the central government towards the demands of the workers during the consultation with the trade unions has forced the workers throughout the country to strike work and raise their demands. The government has backed out of commitments at the Indian Labour Conference.
The speakers demanded minimum wages to be fixed for unskilled workers at Rs 18,000, Semi Skilled 23,000 and skilled workers 26,000 per month. These demands are based on formula for wages which has already been unanimously decided by the 15th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) and subsequent addition of 25% by the Supreme Court. The said formulae had also been the consensus recommendation of 44th Indian Labour Conference (2012) and again reiterated by 46th ILC in 2015. In fact said formulae makes minimum wage around Rs 20000/- and the Trade Unions are demanding only Rs 18,000. The Govt. only suggested floor wage of Rs.7210 per month in Punjab(not based on concept of minimum wage). Moreover even the minimum requirement of 2100 calories per day for sustaining a life as per the diet chart of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) cannot be met under the present price situation with such low wages as the government of India is proposing the speakers said.
The speakers said that the labour laws in the state are being flouted by both public and private sector with impunity. The anti people stance of the government is evident from its attitude towards the condition of contractual labour. They demanded end to contractual labour and end to outsourcing and filling up of all govt. and semi govt. posts on regular basis, to disband the new pension policy effective from 1.1.2004 and implement the same old pension scheme on all employees. On Bonus issue, the Trade unions demanded for removal of all ceilings both on payment and calculations since there is no ceiling on profit.
The speakers further decried the government’s policies to prohibit the workers from forming unions. Where ever the workers gain strength to organise themselves, the administration resorts to repressive measures against them. They said that in the coming period the trade unions will chart out strategy to oppose this type of repression.
Com Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon-leader Kisan Sabha,Com. Amarjit Mattu, Dr. Arun Mitra, Com D P Maur- AITUC, Com Jatinder Pal Singh CITU, Com Tarsem Jodhan Ex-MLA, Suresh Sood-INTUC, Com Daljit Singh-Railway, Com. Ramesh Rattan, Com Naresh Gaur, Subhash Rani-Anganwari deplored that under the process of so called globalization and privatization at the diktat of the world bank and International Monetary Fund, the economic policies of both central and state governments there has been accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few, while vast majority is suffering under acute poverty and unemployment. Latest reports have indicated that 100 top rich families in India own assets to the tune of 22 lakh crores of rupees where as nearly 75% are forced to live on meager spending of Rs. 16.60 per day. They further said that due to the pro corporate and anti-worker policies of the Modi government unemployment has crossed the mark of 10 crore in the country. 30% of the population cannot even afford 2 square a meal, 85% of the population is without health services, clean drinking water, proper housing, education and other necessities of life.
Others who addressed the well attended rally included Com Charan Sarabha, Gurnam Sidhu, Balram Singh, Rajesh Verma, M S Bhatia, S K Tiwari, Gurnam Gill, Manjeet Roadways, Vijay Kumar, Dev Raj, Samar Bahadur, Daljeet Singh Sahi, Feroze Master, Ghansham Singh, Tehseeldar Singh, Laddoo Shah, Kameshwar, Tilak Raj Dogra, Raja Ram, Manjeet Kaur, Chitranjan Kumar, Sudeshwar Tiwari, Ajeeet Kumar, Rajesh Verma, Gurmail Singh Boparai, B K Moudgil, Lal Chand and Paramjit Singh.