NATIONAL
CONVENTION OF WORKERS
28th
September 2018, Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi
Draft
Declaration
The
Central Trade Unions, independent federations and associations carried forward
the decisions adopted in the National Convention of Workers on 8 th August 2017
at Talkatora Stadium. The successful holding of three day mahapadav on 9
th-10th-11th Nov., 2017 after about more than three months extensive
countrywide campaign was a land mark in the ongoing struggle to fight back the
onslaught of the government against working people and their trade unions,
against hard won labour rights, anti-labour and pro-employer codifications and
violations of existing labour laws and violation of ILO Conventions. We had
demanded concrete measures for curbing rising prices of essential commodities,
creation of new Decent jobs, minimum wages Rs.18000/- p.m. and minimum Rs.6000/-
p.m. pension to all, stoppage of all moves to sell PSU shares and outright
privatization through various routes like outsourcing, PPP etc, universal
social security coverage to all among other demands. This Mahapadav was
followed by the Nationwide strike by Scheme Workers on 17th January 2018 and
then Satyagraha and protests in almost all the states on varying dates,
beginning from 23rd January to 23rd February 2018.
The
Central Government not only refused to respond to the just and genuine demands of
the organized agitation of the working class, but has been increasing its
aggression against the rights of workers, employees and trade unions. The
Bipartism and tripartism is being undermined. The Govt. is dragging its feet on
wage negotiations of public sector in Bipartite settlements and 7 th Pay
Commission anomalies of Central Government employees. Four Sub Committees were
formed by the Government to address several issues raised by Central Government
employees (NCJCA) such as scraping of New Pension scheme, review the Minimum
Wage and fitment formula, restoration of allowances and allowing option No.I as
one of the Pension Fitment Formula. But nothing has been done.
The
Central Government Employees’ Organizations, including the defence and railways,
have been planning united action against the betrayal by the Government and
asserting their genuine demands including scrapping of the New Pension Scheme.
This National Convention extends full support to their struggles and upholds
all their demands.
The last
Indian Labour Conference was held in July 2015 and since then no ILC has been
held, rather the circulated dates for ILC were cancelled. There has been no
dialogue by the Government or its Group of Ministers with the trade unions.
The
National Convention of Workers being held today, the 28th September 2018, in
Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi jointly called by the ten Central Trade Unions, in
association with all independent National Federations of Workers and Employees,
of both Industrial and Service sectors viz., Banks, Insurance, Central
Government and State Government employees, Defence Production employees etc.,
expresses serious concern over the deteriorating situation in the national
economy due to the pro- corporate, anti-national and anti-people policies
pursued by the Central Government, grievously impacting the livelihood of the
working people across the country.
This
National Convention unanimously condemns in strongest terms the conspiratorial
and authoritarian attack of the present Government to deprive the biggest
Central Trade Union in the country, the Indian National Trade Union Congress
(INTUC) from all representations in the tripartite and bipartite fora and
committees, including the international forum. This is nothing but a severe and
heinous onslaught on the rights of the entire trade union movement. It will be
unitedly fought back and this National Convention pledges for that.
The
Convention notes with utter dismay that the Government has been continuing to
arrogantly ignore the 12 point Charter of Demands on minimum wage, universal
social security, workers’ status and including pay and facilities for the
scheme workers, against privatization of public and government sector including
financial sectors and mass scale contractorisation, ratification of ILO
Convention 87 and 98 etc. being jointly pursued by the entire trade union
movement of the country. Despite numerous nationwide joint strike actions, the
most prominent being those of 2nd September 2015 and 2nd September 2016, participated
by crores of workers against the policies of the Governments, the ruling regime
at the centre has been increasing its onslaught on the rights and livelihood of
the working people of the country. Both the organized as well as unorganized
sectors are victims alike.
Unemployment
situation is getting aggravated with employment generation practically turned
negative even in the most labour intensive sectors. The phenomenon of closure
and shut-down of industries and the forecast of huge job-loss in the IT sector
is adding fuel to the fire. Price-rise of petroleum products, essential
commodities including public transport, electricity, medicines etc is mounting
pressure on daily life of the people in general, leading to widening as well as
deepening of impoverishment. Hasty implementation of GST has further compounded
the hardships. Even essential and lifesaving medicines have been subjected to
hefty GST. Drastic cut in Government expenditure in social sector and various
welfare schemes has made the condition of workers, particularly those in
unorganized sector more precarious. For the establishment of modern labour
slavery system, it has introduced Fixed Term Employment through backdoor, has
permitted putting children below 14 years age to work in a family establishment,
has brought in pro-employer changes in Apprenticeship Act.
The
situation due to steep price-rise in petrol and diesel with cascading effect on
increase in prices of all daily life utility items and specially the food items
is resulting in torturous impact on common masses. The after effects of
demonetisation and faulty GST continue to adversely impacting the deep crises
set in the fast paced neo-liberal economic policies of the Government. Lack of
job opportunities on one hand and continued job losses, retrenchments, illegal
closures on the other hand, are imposing miserable conditions on the ordinary
families for their food, education of children, medical care of the sick and
elderly. No new jobs are being created since the last five years or so despite
heavy increase in work load in general including in the Government and Public
Sector Undertakings. On the contrary, 3% compulsory annual surrender of regular
posts in Government establishments is continuing. In this Government regime
recruitment exam scams like SSB and other competitive exams have rubbed salt on
the wounds of the educated unemployed. In private sector also, massive
downsizing has become a regular phenomenon.
The
estimates by independent surveys and those sponsored by employers’
organizations revealed loss of 70 lakh jobs with closure of 2.34 lakh small
factory units in the first few months of demonetization. The livelihood-loss of
another 6 crore people in informal economy and about 17 lakh job losses in
organized sector speaks about the grim ground reality. Faced with such pathetic
records, the Government is busy in concoction of statistics with twists to make
fraudulent claims on employment generation. Regular Employment Survey which was
conducted by Labour Ministry has been discontinued.
The
anti-labour authoritarian character of the Government is all the more evident
in their refusal to implement even the consensus recommendations (in which the
Government was also a party) of the successive Indian Labour Conferences (ILC)
in respect of equal pay and benefits for equal work for the contract workers,
formulation of minimum wage on the norms agreed by 15th ILC/Supreme Court
Judgment and workers’ status for the scheme workers viz., Anganwadi,
Mid-Day-Meal, ASHA, MGNREGA and Domestic workers etc. Shockingly, the present
Government is even refusing to implement the recent Judgments of the Supreme
Court of the country on the most genuine issue of “equal wage and benefits for
equal work” and on EPS, 1995 on contribution and calculation of pension on
actual pay and dearness allowance.
In the
vast construction sector, which has a huge unorganized workforce, the
Government is not taking proper action on the ruling of the Supreme Court
regarding construction workers cess fund and its utilization in the interest of
the construction workers and benefits and ignoring the Central and State Trade
Unions in the decision making mechanism.
Despite
opposition of all the trade unions in the country irrespective of affiliations,
the Government has been aggressively pushing through its programme of
pro-employer and utterly anti-worker labour law reforms. Government has decided
to amalgamate 44 hard earned Central Labour Laws to enact 4 anti-worker,
pro-employer Labour Codes to facilitate the employers to hire and fire in the
name of ‘Ease of doing Business’, ‘Make in India’, ‘Start Up’ etc. which is
aimed at imposing the conditions of slavery on the working people. The latest
onslaught is the move to evolve a ’Social Security Code’ by dismantling and
demolishing the existing statutory Social Security infrastructure under
Employees Provident Fund Organization, Coal Mines Provident Fund and Employees
State Insurance Corporation and many other welfare statutes, abolition of
welfare related cess, and usurp the huge social security fund contributed to by
the workers, amounting to more than Rs.24 lakh crore and make it available for
speculation in share market under the most deceptive and fraudulent camouflage
of ‘universalisation of social security’. The proposed code on Occupational
Safety & Health (OSH) is very dangerous move on the Occupational Safety and
Health including the welfare of the factory and service sector working class.
The fixed
term employment adopted as a Government policy through adoption of finance bill
would be death knell for job security. The latest attack has come on the Trade
Union Act 1926, where the Govt. intends to change the definition of the Central
level and state level trade unions by invoking proposed amendments in Section
28A and 29. The malafide intention is also to have Government interference in
the functioning of trade unions and usurping rights to dictate on its whims in
the internal matters of unions. It is all done to facilitate “hire and fire”
under different names i.e. “Ease of Doing Business”, “Start Up” etc. It seems
like a move to derecognize the status of Central and State level pro-worker
trade unions. The Labour Ministry, in the name of tri-partite consultation on
Labour Law Amendments, is only putting up a show and to create a record of
consultation, which the Central Trade Unions have consistently boycotted.
Privatization
of all strategic PSUs, including Defence Production, Public Sector Banks and
Insurance and also Railways, public road transport, oil, power, steel, coal etc
through disinvestment, strategic sale, outsourcing in favour of private sector,
promoting 100 per cent FDI in many vital and strategic sectors are increasing
day by day. Moreover stripping all the cash rich PSUs of the investible cash
reserves are added assaults. In fact Defence Sector privatization move is
actually designed to destroy manufacturing capability and Research initiatives
developed by the country over last six and half decades. The worst and most
dubious is the game plan to outsource more than 50 per cent products including
weapons and critical equipments, so long being produced by the Ordinance
establishments. More than 250 items manufactured by Ordnance Factories have
been notified as non-core. Orders are placed to private players for supply of
some of these items. Government is determined to close down 5 Ordnance
Factories manufacturing items used by our soldiers and Officers and it would
render thousands of workers jobless, including 1600 female Tailors. Defence
PSUs and Shipyards are also being subjected to discrimination in respect of
work orders while private corporates are being patronized by the Government in
defence procurement deals.
Complete
privatization of the Railways, step by step, is going on. Operating private
trains on the existing tracks built by Railways is being permitted. Moreover
free access to railway yards, sheds and workshops for maintenance of private
coaches, wagons and engines etc. is being offered to private operators. Already
23 railway stations, all in metro cities, have been shortlisted for
privatisation. More than 600 Railway Stations along with land around them have
been identified for development through private players in the name of
“redevelopment of Railway Stations and land around them”. It was part of Budget
speech of the Finance Minister. Workers not only in Railways but in all
Government and Public Sector Undertakings shall be worst victims of
privatization in terms of job security, democratic trade union rights and
protection of achievements in the areas of pay, perks, social security etc.
Like Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC), a Railway Development
Authority (RDA) has been created. Given the skyrocketing increase in
electricity tariff by CERC, under RDA, railway fare and goods freight is poised
to be hiked, hurting the common people and benefiting the private profiteers.
The
exposures of various corruptions by the BJP led NDA Govt. in the centre shows
the real face of the ruling clique and Rafael deal is biggest scam yet being
unearthed step by step.
Public
Sector Banks are under attack through various legislative and executive
measures. The ultimate target of the Government is privatization and to extend
undue favour to the same private corporate crooks, whose default of paying back
the loan has put the banking sector in severe difficulties. Instead of
addressing the problems of NPA and fixing the corporate defaulters, the
Government is going ahead with its scheme of merger of banks, which in reality
leads to closure of numerous branches, resulting in job-losses and narrowing of
the outreach of the PSU Banks. NPAs have crossed Rs. 13 lakh crores. After
Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya, now Neerav Modi and Mehul Choksy have also dodged
the Indian system and run away with the loot of Indian people’s money. The
Government brought FRDI Bill which was opposed tooth and nail by the unions
forcing Government to withdraw it. But now the Government has come out with
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, which is aimed to facilitate the corporate
defaulters to go away with major part of the debt default under the camouflage
of so-called “resolution process of insolvency”. Banks will get back hardly 30
per cent of their due loan amount. This is another big scam in the making which
would further damage the crises ridden economy.
The
retrenchment of contractual employees has been resorted to already in some
banks and telecom sector. Insurance sector is also under such attack.
Legislative measures to pave the way of privatization of our major ports are
also in the advanced stage. CPSUs even including the core and strategic sectors
like Energy, Petroleum, Telecom, Metal, Mining, Machine Building, Electronic
and Digital, Road, Air and Water Transport, Port & Dock and more are under
the privatization onslaught of the Government. In J & K, the entire land
and building of the production unit of the sole PSU, ITI Ltd., is being taken
over in the name of building an NSG Hub there. The Convention notes that
workers of these industries are fighting sectoral battles unitedly. United
struggles have been launched by the workers and employees of Government Services
Sector including the Scheme Workers, Domestic workers, Migrant workers and
unorganized sector workers. The Convention extends full support to these
struggles. It also demands that one rank one pension sanctioned to some should
be uniformly implemented for all Defence employees.
Attempts
are being made by many state governments to dismantle Public sector road
transport by issuing route-permits to private parties. The central government
intends to get the new Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill 2017 hastily passed in
the parliament which will allow wholesale privatisation of road transport on
the one hand and impose draconian measures on the road transport workers
including those in private sector. The Rajasthan Road Transport Workers Union
is spearheading militant struggle against even the precursor of this bill (Road
Transport & Safety Bill, 2014) by forging alliance with other trade unions
in the sector, since its inception in 2014. Even now, they are on indefinite
strike since 16th September, 2018 against Rajasthan Transport Minister’s
volte-face on his assurances and attempts to privatise the depots. The
Convention while taking note of the protest action by transport workers,
salutes the Road Transport Workers of Maharashtra who demonstrated excellent
communication skill, rock hard determination, commitment and unity while
observing 4 days State wide general strike to press for their genuine demands
despite use of all repressive measures by Government and also disruption by
some black sheep., The Convention also notes the widely participated
countrywide strike by Road Transport workers on 7 th August 2018 against the
Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill. The Convention condemns the state Governments,
including the state governments of Haryana and Rajasthan and central
Government’s anti people and anti worker moves in the transport sector.
The
National Convention of Workers extends full solidarity to the fighting farmers
in various states as well as under the Joint National Forums of Peasants’
Organizations, including the struggle of STs for implementation of Forest
Rights Act, 2006. It is the same set of pro-corporate, pro-landlord policies
which have created a severe crisis in agriculture, biggest livelihood provider
in the economy, leading to continuing increase in spate of suicides. The
promised Minimum Support Prices, one and half times the cost of production, to
farmers was not accomplished, rather further fraud was committed on the farming
community with the kind of announcements made on MSP for their crops.
This
National Convention of Workers records its strong denunciation against the
communal and divisive machinations on the society being carried on with the
active patronage of the Government machinery. The BJP Governments are using
draconian UAPA, NSA as well as the agencies of CBI, NIA, IT to harass and
suppress any dissenting opinions. The peace loving secular people in the
country are facing a stark situation of terror and insecurity all around.
Communal forces are cultivating an atmosphere of conflicts within the society
on non-issues. It is disrupting the unity of the workers and the toiling people
in general, so vital to carry forward the ongoing struggles based on our
12-point Charter of Demands as detailed above. Working Class must raise its
strong voice of protest.
This
anti-people, anti-workers and anti-national policy regime has not only been
imposing increasing miseries on the toiling people at large, it is also
severely damaging the national economy and destroying its indigenous productive
and manufacturing capabilities to serve the interests of the multinational
companies with Indian corporates as their junior partner. This anti-people and
anti-national policy regime must be defeated squarely to force the pro-people
changes in policies on all fronts. And for that, the united platform of the
working class must heighten its struggle further.
The task
before the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions and independent national
federations is to further intensify the surging struggles in various sectors
through a concerted united agitation and mobilization at national level to be
followed by countrywide general strike action as a culmination and
consolidation of all sectoral struggles.
The
National Convention of workers therefore adopts the following programmes:
1.State
level, district level and industry/sector level joint conventions to be held
during October/November 2018
2. Joint
Industry-level gate meetings, rallies etc. during November and December.
3.
Submission of strike notice jointly with demonstrations during 17-22 December.
4. Two days
countrywide General Strike on 8th and 9th January 2019.
The
National Convention calls upon working people across the sectors and throughout
the country irrespective of affiliations to make the above programmes a total
success.
Yours Sincerely
INTUC AITUC HMS CITU AIUTUC
TUCC SEWA AICCTU LPF UTUC
And Independent Federations of Workers and Employees
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