Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 15:59:33
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 155.90 2.00%
  1. ICICI Bank share price
  2. 1,095.75 1.08%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,448.20 0.52%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 428.55 0.13%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.05 2.21%
Business News/ Politics / Policy/  As worker unions muster strength, govt to make last effort to avert a strike
BackBack

As worker unions muster strength, govt to make last effort to avert a strike

Arun Jaitley will negotiate with all central workers' unions, including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, on 26 August

Premium


New Delhi: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will make one last effort on Wednesday to dissuade trade unions from striking work on 2 September as part of the second industrial action this year against proposed changes in labour laws and the land acquisition bill.

A group of ministers led by finance minister Arun Jaitley will negotiate with all central workers’ unions, including Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an affiliate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—on 26 August.

The labour ministry has invited the trade unions for the meeting in a bid to convince them that their 12-point charter of demand is being favourably viewed by the government.

Meanwhile, the unions are busy garnering support for the strike by holding conventions across the industrial hubs in the country. According to the unions, the reforms will lead to more privatisation and contractualisation of the workforce.

Unions said the strike will be a sequel to the biggest industrial action in recent years that took place on 6 January when half a million coal miners struck work, threatening suspension of supplies to power plants. Production and movement of coal across Asia’s third largest economy came to a grinding halt in what was considered the biggest show of union strength in the recent times.

“This will be much bigger in strength and impact," said M.L. Yadav, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Road Transport Organization. “Along with the demand of national trade unions, we, the transport organizations, are demanding the withdrawal of a road transport and safety bill that the central government is bringing to privatise road transport operation in the country," he said.

Over the last three months, the central trade unions and their splinter organizations have held 22 joint conventions in 18 states. D.L. Sachdeva, national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), said defence employees to oil sector workers all will participate in the national strike that will impact all the sectors.

“The government has been over-busy in amending all labour laws to empower the employers with unfettered rights to ‘hire and fire’ and stripping the workers and trade unions of all their rights and benefits, besides aggressively pushing through almost unlimited FDI (foreign direct investment) in strategic sectors such as railways, defence and financial sector. Also, through sweeping changes in the existing Land Acquisition Act, farmer’s right to land and agri-workers right to livelihood are being sought to be drastically curbed and curtailed," the National Convention of Workers said in its declaration.

The labour ministry, which will host the group of ministers’ meeting with trade unions, said several union demands like universal social security are fulfilled to a large extent and the government continues to expand social security benefits for workers in both organised and unorganised sectors. The minimum wage hike is under consideration through an amendment to the Minimum Wages Act and the unions are aware of that.

“We believe the unions will desist from an strike as it will only lead to production loss and impact the economy," said a labour ministry official. The official, requesting anonymity, said the 26 August meeting is expected to break the ice.

AITUC’s Sachdeva confirmed the development but said everything depends on what the government and the group of ministers are bringing to the table.

On 19 July, trade unions held a meeting with a group of ministers led by Jaitley. Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, power minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state in the prime minister’s office Jitendra Singh were the other members in the group that met the unions.

On the same day, the unions met the Prime Minister who, according to them, gave a patient hearing.

The nation-wide strike call comes at a time when the government has been trying to build a consensus among political parties to pass the land acquisition bill intended to unlock large parcels of land for boosting manufacturing in India. It failed to pass the bill in the monsoon session due to persistent stalling tactics of the opposition led by the Congress. No labour reform bill could be passed either.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Politics News and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
More Less
Published: 24 Aug 2015, 01:20 PM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App