On the one hand the UPA government say they are labour friendly. But whatever actions/ decisions they are taking, they are all against the labour. They have changed the Pension Rules from defined pension to contributory pension through PFRDA Ordinance and are trying to make in to an Act through Parliament. They could not pass the bill due to objections from opposition as also from some of its allies. They are not prepared to increase the minimum wage. They support hire and fire policy demanded by the corporates and employers. They want to increase the working hours from 8 to 10 or 12 hours. They are refusing to grant registration to many eligible unions. Recruitment of regular workers has almost stopped and instead contract workers at very low wages are engaged for the regular work against the Contract Labour Act. Police support is given to the employers to break the strikes as we have seen in many recent strikes.

Now the new attack on labour is in the case of National Manufacturing Zones (NMZ) proposed to be constituted in about 8 places in the country. These are far bigger than the Special Economic Zones (SEZ), covering two or three states. The employers and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion wants that the labour laws in the country should not be applicable to these NMZs and an officer appointed by the NMZ will attend to these issues. The meaning is very clear. The labour machinery in the central or state will  not be able to intervene in any labour dispute like retrenchment, wages, working hours, social security measures etc.  Fire and hire will be the rule.

It is not surprising that the Prime Minister is on the side of the employers. He recently told to the Indian Labour Conference held at New Delhi that labour laws need modification, meaning that the existing labour laws need to be changed to suit the requirement of the employer.

It seems that the Labour Ministry is resisting this plan to torpedo the labour rules. But when the Prime Minister himself is in for  change of labour laws in favour of the employers, how the Labour Ministry can stop it. It can only be stopped by the mighty force of the working class.  It is the responsibility of the trade unions to oppose and defeat it.

The 28^th February Nationwide One day Strike is part of this great fight to save the labour from these attacks. Let us make it a big success and a warning to the government that the working class in this country will never allow the government to implement anti-worker decisions.

March towards 28^th February Strike with courage and determination !.

As expected, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has opposed the 28th February Strike called by the Central trade Unions and All India Federations on the charter of demands of the workers. She has  called upon workers to oppose the nation-wide strike on February 28. As per the W.Bengal chief secretary’s circular, employees staying away from work would face deduction of leave and salary and might also lose seniority or face discontinuation of service!

In  response to Opposition  criticism of her government for opposing the strike, the chief minister said, “I have told (Labour Minister) Purnendu Basu, if anyone does not want to work, relieve him. If someone wants to work, promote him. Enough is enough. I will not allow daltantra (party politics). There will only be democracy.”

Does Mamata wants a ‘Jayalalitha act’ ? (Chief Minister Jayalalitha dismissed, terminated and arrested thousands of workers when the T.Nadu state government employees went on strike a few years back.). The times have changed. The workers are capable of facing the threats and reacting.