WFTU NEWS – Message to Striking Workers of Brazil

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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Solidarity Messages to the Workers of Brazil on their General Strike of June 30
30 Jun 2017FISE
FISE expresses Solidarity to the Workers of Brazil on their General Strike of June 30

FISE expresses its support to the workers of Brazil, for the 30 June, General Strike.

The workers of Brazil, on June 30 go on strike all over the country against the antiworkers’ reforms, planned by the Government of Brazil.

The struggle for full time, steady jobs, decent wages, Public and Free Social Security, Healthcare and Educations, is a struggle of the working class all over the world against business groups and the Governments, who serve them.

FISE expresses its solidarity and support to the workers’ mobilizations in Brazil.

Greetings to Com.S.P.Kalairajan, who retired from service

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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Comrade S.P.Kalairajan, Circle Secretary of BSNLEU, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, retired on 30th June 2017 on superannuation.

Com.Kalairajan is an extra-ordinary, vibrant and dedicated leader of the working class. His entire service was dedicated to the DOT/BSNL employees as well as the central/state government employees of the A&N Islands. I remember the various times I have visited the islands on organisational tours. Every time, he organised several meetings of the central / state government employees as also teachers organisations. In the islands, he almost personally know each and every one. He accompanied me to the various islands and held meetings.  Though E.III and BSNLEU was a minority in the initial stage, the team led by Com. Kalairajan ensured that majority came to him.

Despite difficulties he used to attend all the All India Conferences and CEC meetings of the union. Every time we met, sometime will be utilised for discussion on organisational matters and progressive ideas. Even at latest CEC Thiruvananthapuram this was the case.

Kalairajan is an author. His book on the Tamil language is of high standard. As is usual with many of the people in Andamans, Kalairajan also knows various Indian languages. He has built up a strong organisation in the Islands including Com. Ratnambal, who herself is a senior leader.

On his retirement from service, my hearty congratulations and greetings to him. Now he had got a wide field for activities. I mentioned to him last time about Com.P.K.S.Prasad, who was a tall leader of the Andamans as an example for his future work.

Revolution Greetings to Com. Kalairajan!

Sitaram Yechury Demands banning of self styled cow vigilante groups

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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Rohtak, June 30: Sitaram Yechuri has demanded the self styled cow vigilante groups to be outlawed for their unabated criminal activities in the form of lynching mobs targeting especially the citizens belonging to minority communities and dalits.
While addressing the media here today CPI(M) General Secretary expressed dissatisfaction over the belated response of the Prime Minister commenting that Mahatama Gandhi would have never accepted killings in the name of cows while he did not reveal what his government was doing to effectively deal with the lynch mobs or so called Romeo squads. He said that a man was being beaten to death in Jharkhand only just after the PM was speaking in Gujarat yesterday.
He expressed deep concern over unprecedented crisis in agriculture sector as reflected through massive upsurge of the peasantry recently in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. He castigated a Central minister for describing the loan waiver demand as a fashion and asked why the farmers were falling in debt trap in the first place. It was non other than Modi himself to promise farm produce to be purchased at one and half times more than the cost of production and now his BJP government had gone back to honour the election promise.
Calling the todays function in the Central hall of Parliament as a Tamasha he raised several apprehensions over the present form of tax structure under the GST and described it as beneficial to the Corporate sector and foreign capital while harmful for the small traders and common people. In this context he expressed anguish at taxes imposed on the aids for the differently abled persons and cited it as one example of utterly insensitive and inhuman. Mr Yechuri told that the Finance Minister had given him an assurance on the floor of Parliament that tax structure will be brought before the house for discussion and debate but NDA government has gone ahead bypassing the parliament. He blamed the Modi regime of imposing GST without adequate preparedness. (Courtesy: Ganashakti)

Confederation / Standing Committee Members JCM disown the statement of Secretary National Council.

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBERS, STAFF SIDE NATIONAL COUNCIL JCM, REPRESENTING CONFEDERATION DISAGREE AND DISOWN THE STATEMENT OF SRI. SHIV GOPAL MISRA, SECRETARY, STAFF SIDE, NATIONAL COUNCIL JCM

It was extremely unfortunate that the Staff Side Secretary through his press statement issued yesterday has chosen to praise the Modi Government over the decisions it had taken on various demands of the Central Govt. employees. The said statement was issued apparently without causing any consultation either formally or informally with the other members of the Staff Side, in any case not at all in consultation with the signatories of this statement. We, being the members of the Standing Committee, emphatically disagree and distance ourselves from the position taken by him in the Press Statement.
There had been no justification for the 7th CPC to reduce the rate of HRA by an imagined factor of 0.8. Neither during the discussions, the staff side had with the committee headed by the Expenditure Secretary, nor in the press release issued after the Cabinet meeting, the Govt. had advanced any logic for their decision to restore the rate of HRA only for those who draw pay at the level of Rs.18000. There had been no appreciation of any of the concerns or issues raised by the staff side and whatever decisions so far taken by the Govt. was inconsonance with the views and recommendations of the top echelons of the bureaucracy, be in the matter of allowances, minimum wage, fitment factor, rejection of option no.1 for the pensioners or withdrawal of NPS. There is no justification, whatsoever, for denial of arrears of HRA with effect from 01.01.2016.

The highly defective computation of minimum wage by the 7th CPC and the consequent denial of a reasonable wage structure, withdrawal of existing allowances and benefits, virtual abrogation of the time bound promotion to the lower category of employees; rejection of option No. 1 to pensioners, refusal to grant atleast a minimum guaranteed pension under NPS, denial of arrears of HRA from 01.01.2016 require the strongest condemnation.
The fact that decisions taken by the Govt. on 7th CPC issues are clear reflections of Modi Government’s. anti- labour attitude ought to have been, what the staff side secretary conveyed through his press release. His statement has, as stated earlier sadly reflects the total disconnect between the common Central Govt. employees and JCM staff side leadership.

Had it been the statement on behalf of the AIRF, we would not have issued this denouncement at all, as we consider that it is the prerogative of each organisation to view things in their perspective and formulate their opinions.

KKN Kutty M. Krishnan M. S. Raja
Member, Member, Member,
Standing committee, Standing committee, Standing committee,
National Council JCM National Council JCM National Council JCM
R

Will telecom tariff increase?

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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The increase of the telecom tax to 18% through GST is certainly going to increase the telecom tariff, which will adversely affect the customers. On the one side the government wants to support the telecom services and on the other hand the tax is increased. Have the government a clear telecom policy?

GST – A Big Confusion

01 Saturday Jul 2017

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The government in a special session of the Parliament held in the midnight of 30th June/1st July has introduced the much discussed Goods and Service Tax (GST) through out India. Discussion on the various aspects of the GST has come through government advertisements, social media, statements of the various political leaders and corporates etc. But still, there is confusion in many aspects of implementing the same. There is a clear feeling that sufficient ground work and preparations have not been made and the public will be in difficulty in their day to day activities, as was in the case of demonetisation, which was a disaster. The boycott of the midnight function by leaders of many opposition political parties have increased the anxiety of the people.

Anyhow, GST is being implemented from today. The first one week will give an indication of what to expect.

No Privatisation of Air India – CPI(M)

30 Friday Jun 2017

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New Delhi, June 30: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

No Privatisation of Air India

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly opposes the decision of the Modi government to privatise the national carrier, Air India. The Union Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of the Niti Ayog and given an in-principle agreement for the disinvestment of Air India and its five subsidiaries.

This decision has been taken at a time when, after prolonged losses since 2008, the airline has started achieving operating profits of Rs. 105 crore for the year 2015-16 and an estimated operating profit of around Rs. 300 crore in 2016-17.

Air India was crippled and burdened with debt due to monumental miscalculation and certain wrong decisions taken by successive governments at the Centre. It is now being made the scapegoat and sought to be privatized.

The privatization of Air India is being made with a bonanza to the perspective private buyer – the write off of the Rs. 30,000 crore debt burden. The privatization of Air India is not for saving public money but for handing over national assets for a song and defrauding the exchequer for the benefit of private companies, both domestic and foreign.

The sale of Air India is part of the overall privatization drive of the Modi government which is against national interest. It must be stopped forthwith.

Resolve GST Issues – CPI(M)

30 Friday Jun 2017

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New Delhi, June 30: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

Resolve GST Problems

There are a number of problems arising from the Goods and Services Tax which is being hastily implemented from July 1, 2017.

There is an imminent threat of inflation and an all-round increase in the prices of consumer goods. This, despite the fact that for a number of commodities the GST rates now fixed are lower than the combined existing rate of Centre and state taxes. It is estimated that there will be a revenue loss of at least Rs. 1 lakh crore for the Centre and state governments. This will be a bonanza for the corporates, who are not willing to pass on the benefit of the reduced rates to the consumers.

The Central government is unwilling to effectively use the anti-profiteering clause in the GST law. This clause was meant to ensure that the reduction in the rate of tax arising due to introduction of GST shall be passed on to the consumers by the commensurate reduction in prices. The Central government has not yet framed the rules under the anti-profiteering clause.

Utilising the lack of clarity in the details of the tax structure, efforts will be made to increase prices.

The CPI(M) demands that the Central government publish a detailed list of commodity prices under the existing combined tax and under the GST and intervene to see that the MRP are reduced.

The GST tax rate is going to affect certain sectors and goods adversely. Small scale industry as a whole will be adversely affected because they will have to pay full tax for units above Rs. 75 lakh turnover. Earlier, they were exempted for all units below Rs. 1.5 crore.

There are various other anomalies which work in favour of the big industries and at the expense of small enterprises. The Central government and the GST Council must immediately relook these issues and remove the anomalies. In no way can ordinary people be made to pay for the bonanza to be reaped by the corporates.

The Modi government has put in place the GST in great haste and this is causing a number of problems for the small entrepreneurs, traders and shopkeepers. Enough time should be given for implementation of the new tax structure

PM NEED NOT REMIND US OF GANDHI’S IDEALS: LEFT PARTIES ON COW VIGILANTISM

30 Friday Jun 2017

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New Delhi, Jun 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi need not remind people of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals but should ensure strict action against those attacking people on the pretext of protecting cows, Left parties today said.
On the prime minister’s statement that unleashing violence against others went against the ideals of Gandhi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said: “We do not need him to remind us of this.” “We are aware of Gandhi’s principles … We want to know what the prime minister proposes to do to stop such mobocracy,” he said.
In an open letter, CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy welcomed Modi’s “another” warning to the “so-called” cow vigilantes.
“In spite of Modi’s severe warning to them”, anti-social elements are continuing with their activity. It is not clear to people what is encouraging them, it said.
Ministers in the BJP-ruled states are supporting cow vigilantes, directly or indirectly, through their statements.
No action has been taken against cow vigilantes or in cases of attacks on Dalits, he alleged.
“It is more like a warlord’s regime of Middle Ages then a democratic government of the 21st century in India, especially in BJP-ruled states … Real, serious steps should be taken to stop these killings at once,” he added. (Courtesy: Ganashakti)