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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Sangh labour wing pulls out of strike

Sangh labour wing pulls out of strike

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published Published on Aug 31, 2015   modified Modified on Aug 31, 2015
-The Telegraph

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's labour arm has walked out of the countrywide strike that 11 unions had called on September 2 to press for a 12-point charter of demands.

A recent government survey had ranked the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) as India's largest trade union body with a membership of 62 lakh. Congress-affiliated Intuc came a distant second with 39 lakh members while the CPI's labour wing, Aituc, was third with 34 lakh.

Sources said the Sangh leadership had persuaded the BMS not to "detract" from the "good work" being done by the Narendra Modi government by resorting to "disruptive" tactics like strikes.

At a recent meeting between the government and labour representatives, the BMS had rejected an inter-ministerial group's suggestions, bolstering the other unions' impression that it would stick by the rest.

But last evening, at a meeting of the unions convened by Intuc chief G. Sanjeeva Reddy, the BMS representatives said the Centre had come out with "positive assurances" on their fundamental demands.

Therefore, they said, it would be "practical and wise" to defer the strike while continuing to speak to the government's interlocutors, who include finance minister Arun Jaitley, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, coal and power minister Piyush Goyal and the junior minister in the PMO, Jitendra Singh.

Intuc chief Reddy too appeared to signal a possible softening of stand when he told The Telegraph: "If the government can at the earliest accede to at least two of our demands - relating to the revision of the minimum wage and doing away with the cap on bonus - we are willing to rethink our stand."

Aituc general secretary and former MP Gurudas Dasgupta claimed that Intuc would remain with the pack, adding that the unions would hold a joint news conference at Intuc headquarters on August 31.

The Sangh has called a meeting of its affiliates in Delhi in early September to fine-tune their functioning.

Sources said the Sangh felt that since the Centre had accommodated the demands of its farmer wing, the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, and the BMS on the land acquisition law, it was the labour union's turn now to display "magnanimity" towards the government.

The unions' demands include a uniform monthly minimum wage of not less than Rs 15,000, par treatment of contract workers and regular employees doing "same and similar" work, and withdrawal of the "pro-employer" labour law amendments modelled on legislation in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

BMS general secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said the government had "more than honoured its word" by agreeing to bring in legislation to make "formula-based" minimum wages mandatory, revise the bonus ceiling, extend social security to the unorganised sector, guarantee minimum wages to contract workers, and reform labour laws only after tripartite consultations.

But most other unions stood firm on the strike.

Asked about the "assurances" cited by the BMS, Tapan Kumar Sen, general secretary of CPM labour arm Citu and an MP, replied: "There are no concrete offers. The BMS walkout won't change people's perceptions about the strike."

Harbhajan Singh Sidhu, general secretary of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, which is loosely associated with the Socialists, said: "The new labour reforms are unacceptable. The Modi government has legitimised the practice of bonded labour."

A member of the inter-ministerial group said: "We have tried to sort out every outstanding matter. But if they are still determined to press ahead with the strike, the decision smacks of a political motive and not of genuine unionism."

The Telegraph, 30 August, 2015, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150830/jsp/nation/story_39823.jsp#.VePEHZc1t_k


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