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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Bengal babus to lose right to strike?

Bengal babus to lose right to strike?

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published Published on Feb 1, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 1, 2012
-The Times of India
 
It will be illegal for government employees in the state to go on strike or hold rallies if chief minister Mamata Banerjee has her way. 

In a decision that has sent ripples down both camps, the government wants to take away the employees ' right to association, leave aside strike, that the Left Front government had bestowed upon them. 

The bold step - once approved by the Cabinet - will be put to test on February 28 when Left trade unions go on a countrywide industrial strike. 

Ironically, it was labour minister Purnendu Bose who was a firebrand trade union leader - who dropped the bombshell on Tuesday. "The erstwhile Left Front government had made amendments to the service rules in 1981, adding a particular section that gave 'full trade union' rights to state government employees. We have decided to do away with this section, since it contradicts the subsequent sections of the service rules," he said at a press conference at Writers' Buildings. 

It has touched a raw nerve in Bengal, known for a revolutionary fetish. For three decades, the state was used to seeing a deserted Writers' whenever the Left called a bandh or held a rally . The chief secretary would duly issue circulars asking all government employees to come to work and the order was duly ignored. The government never took action against the employees who used to go on mass casual leave on such occasions. Towards the fag end of the Left reign, Writers' would empty out for Trinamool rallies. It was seen as an indication of the impending 'poribartan'. 

Will writers' shun shutdown habit? 

West Bengal Government Employees' Union (Nabaparjaya), which is backed by Trinamool Congress, is furious over the move to "stifle our rights" and has threatened an agitation General secretary of United State Government's Employee's Federation, also backed by Trinamool, says employer and employee can never be on same page, and vows continue protests CPM-backed Coordination Committee to protest against decision, too 

'No one can usurp right to protest' 

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already barred the police from having unions or going on rallies. The move is now being extended to all state government employees. The new administration is invoking the long-forgotten clauses of the rule book that bar government employees from joining a political party. It will amend the rules to overturn a circular issued by the erstwhile Left Front government in 1981 that gave government employees the right to association. 
 
"The (1981) amendment was done despite other sections categorically ruling out a government employee's association with a political party. Our amendment will re-establish the important rule that applies to the whole country," labour minister Purnendu Bose said. 

"Earlier, government employees were affiliated with Intuc, which was not a political party even though it was run by the Congress. Later, INTTUC gave affiliation to government employees despite being an offshoot of the Trinamool Congress. INTTUC's status is clearly defined in our party's constitution. We need to address these grey areas," Bose said. 

It seemed the only person who was expecting the "unprecedented decision" was Ananta Bandyopadhyay , general secretary of the CPM backed Coordination Committee. "The Left Front had created history by granting trade union rights to government employees. We knew that a government run by any other party would repeal the rule." Bandyopadhyay has promised to launch the customary protest, though. He shrugged: "No one can usurp our right to protest. We are not waiting for any government to give us the right or snatch it from us." 

But Samir Majumdar, secretary of the Trinamool-affiliated union, was outraged. "We vehemently condemn the decision. Our trade union rights can't be stifled this way. The former government, though, granting the right in pen and paper, had tried to unnerve us many times. We demand that this government repeal the decision, or we shall launch a protest," he said. 

Writers' employees apprehend more such "unprecedented decisions" . Some of them recall how a panel of judges had imposed severe penalties on hundreds of government employees in Tamil Nadu after the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK government accused them of misconduct during a statewide strike in July 2003. The government had acted under the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA) and the panel was set up in the wake of the government's sacking 200,000 employees to crush the general strike. 

The state labour minister, however, assured that the Bengal government is "not trying to curb anybody's rights". We are only trying to remove the dichotomy within the service rules. We are truly pro-employee, and are keen to solve issues through dialogue rather than the agitation," he said. 

Biswajit Bhattacharya, general secretary of another Trinamool-backed union, the United State Government's Employee's Federation, appeared on the same page with the labour minister. "The Left Front government had allowed us trade union rights though it is not due to us. But it used the Coordination Committee to curb any kind of opposition-led protest. The employee and the employer can never be friends. The employer will continue to deprive and we shall resort to protest." 

The government will also seek to know the total membership of organizations, invoking labour rules that don't acknowledge an organization with less than 20,000 members as a central trade union.


The Times of India, 1 February, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Bengal-babus-to-lose-right-to-strike/articleshow/11707259.cms


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