Trade unions and labour rights activists blame the high suicide rate in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, on the practices of the garment industry. TIRUPUR has carved out a niche for itself in the world of garments. Its phenomenal growth in the highly competitive global scenario, particularly in the past two decades, has been made possible by the entrepreneurial spirit of its manufacturers and exporters and the sweat and labour of thousands of...
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Church preaches rights to workers by Cithara Paul
At a time political trade unions are struggling to get a foothold in the country’s mammoth unorganised sector, there’s a new entrant in the field: the Catholic Church. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has launched a national labour union, the Workers’ India Federation (WIF), focusing on “unorganised” workers. The motto of the union, formed after a three-day workshop in Bangalore in May, is: “Secure Worker, Strong Nation.’’ The union is...
More »Games big corporations play by P Sainath
Bhopal marked the horrific beginning of a new era. One that signalled the collapse of restraint on corporate power. Over 20,000 killed. Over half a million victims maimed, disabled or otherwise affected. Compensation of around Rs.12,414 per victim on average on the 1989 value of the rupee. ($470 million or Rs.713 crore. And that divided among 574,367 victims.) Over a quarter-of-a-century's wait. To see seven former officials of Union Carbide...
More »Protests stall public hearing on Jaitapur nuclear project by Meena Menon
Three affected villages did not receive copies of the environmental impact assessment report Despite it being Akshaya Trithiya, more than 1,000 people turned up for the hearing About 2,300 people have lost land to the project Angry protests stalled a public hearing of the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) at Madban village in Maharashtra on Sunday. Only after officials acknowledged their mistake of not providing copies of the environmental impact assessment (EIA)...
More »Trade unions stage dharna
After a gap of almost a decade, all the nine major trade unions on Wednesday jointly staged a dharna in front of Parliament to protest against price rise, job loss, and disinvestment of public sector undertakings. This is the first time that the Congress-led INTUC has joined hands with All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and CITU, besides HMS and BMS. The All India Bank Employees Association’s agitation also coincided with...
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