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IMPHAL, Aug 27: As a historic event six crore employees belonging to different sectors will go on strike on September 7 all over the country with the major demands for tackling the problems of price rise and strict enforcement of labour laws.
Addressing a press conference this afternoon at Hotel Imphal, the deputy general secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), H. Mahadevan, stated that the workers of the country belonging to both organized and unorganized sectors are facing serious problems of price rise and other economic problems related to labour laws.
All the workers under the aegis of different trade unions of the country, namely INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU, UTUC and other employees and workers federations have unanimously decided to call for an “All India General Strike” on September 7 as per the declaration of the 2nd National Convention of Workers held on July 15 at Mavlankar Hall, New Delhi, he noted.
He said that the demands of the workers include measures to tackle the problems of price rise, strict enforcement of labour laws, proactive measures for employment generation and protection of jobs, review of disinvestment of profit making public sector undertakings (PSUs) and modification of Unorganized Sector Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, to remove all restrictions on eligibility provision for national funding.
Mahadevan also stated that the public distribution system (PDS) which aims to provide essential items to the general public at subsidized rate is full of corruption and irregularities. The economically backward people, especially the workers belonging to unorganized sectors are unable to avail the benefits of PDS, he said.
The attitude of the Union government is pro-capitalist and as a matter of fact the government has granted bailout packages only to the industrialists and not to the workers. Even the government has adopted a policy of putting restrictions on the formation of new trade unions just to avail the benefits of direct foreign investment whereby exploiting the rights of the workers, the deputy general secretary asserted.
He further stated that the present trend of contract labour in the country has totally violated the fundamental right of “equal pay for equal work” and it has created a rift between the permanent and contractual employees.
Mahadevan also made an appeal to all the workers of the state to join hands in making the September 7 strike a remarkable protest against all forms of economic vices in the country.
The deputy general secretary of AITUC will also address a workers’ convention to be held tomorrow at Kuki Inn, Imphal.
