Tag Archives: CITU

CITU opposes limit on contributions to EPF

31 Saturday May 2014

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CITU Press Statement dated 31-05-2014.

It is reported in the media, that a circular has been issued by EPFO, stating that employers paying Provident Contributions to their employees can limit their contributions to the salary limit of Rs.6500 per month. It is reported that the clarification is on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment in 2011. What prompted the EPFO to issue a circular now after such a long time is not known. CITU demands that this should no way result in curtailing the existing benefits in the matter of PF contribution of employer which the employees in various private and public sector enterprises are now getting. In this context, CITU wants to point out that the Govt. has not yet implemented the decision of CBT to increase the salary limit to Rs.15,000 per month for PF contribution which was to be implemented from 1st April 2014. The decision to increase the wage ceiling and and also to increase the minimum pension to Rs.1000 per month was unanimously taken by Central Board of Trustees and approved by Cabinet in February 2014. CITU while demanding immediate implementation of increased ceiling and minimum pension of Rs.1000, also demands that the circular of EPFO should not lead to curtailment of existing benefits to any worker.

CITU Completes 44 years of Struggles in the service of the working Class.

30 Friday May 2014

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Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) is completing 44 years of yeomen service to the cause of the toiling masses and the working class. It was formed on 30th May 1970 at the All India Trade union Conference held at Calcutta. Com. Jyoti Basu was the Chairman of the Reception Committee.

The All India Trade union Conference held at Calcutta from 28-30 May 1970 as per the decision of the Goa Convention held on 9-10 April 1970 was participated by AITUC General and State Committee members who were opposing the reformist and revisionist leadership of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). The Conference was attended by 4264 delegates representing 1759 unions having a total membership of 8,04,637 members. There were 116 delegates and 1134 observers sent by fraternal unions, making the total delegates to 5514.

The Conference discussed the various issues facing the working class, the need for a new organisation in view of the compromising and revisionist leadership of the AITUC and also the requirement of the present situation to have a new and militant organisation which can fight against the anti-working class policies of the ruling class and the government.

Com. P.Ramamurti presented a detailed report and spoke briefly on the important points on the formation of the new organisation. Many delegates participated in the discussions.

Com. B.T.Ranadive, who presided over the Conference, summed up the discussions and decisions of the Conference, heralding the new organisation of the workers, CITU.In fact, the speech could be termed as the Declaration of the Conference and the Manifesto of the Organisation.

The office-bearers and General Council Members of the new union, CITU, was unanimously elected with Com. B.T.Ranadive as President and Com. P.Ramamurti as General Secretary.

44 years are over after CITU has been formed. Many of the leaders who took the lead for the formation like Coms. BTR, P.Ramamurti, Jyoti Basu, E.Balanandan, M.K.Pandhe, Samar Mukherjee,R.Umanath Chittabrata Mazumdar are not with us. But the spirit and aim on which the CITU was formed continues. Many new leaders have come up to take the reign of the organisation. The present President is Com. A.K.Padmanabhan and General Secretary Com. Tapan Sen.

During the last 44 years of its fruitful existence, CITU had led many struggles for the improvement of wages, working conditions and social security of the working class. It has been able to negotiate with the managements and government effectively. It has made all efforts to unify the working class in their struggles with the motto ” Unity for Struggles and Struggles for Unity”. It has been in the forefront in the formation of the united platforms of the trade unions like United Council of Trade Unions (UCTU), Platform of Mass Organisations, National Campaign Committee etc. the latest of which is the Co-ordination Committee of all the 11 Central Trade Unions, including the INTUC and the BMS, the trade unions connected with the ruling class parties, Congress and BJP. They have taken not only the issue of the working class, but also the issue of the entire people like price-rise, pension to all etc.

CITU has also taken initiative to bring united action with the working class and the kisans who forms the major portion of the toiling masses. Without this unity, it will be difficult to fight and defeat the anti-people, anti-working class policies.

CITU has also guided and supported the Central / State Government Employees Organisations and other Independent Federations / Unions in their struggles for better working conditions, wages etc.

CITU has taken initiative for the unity of the world working class. It has got a prominent role in reviving the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which was weakened after the collapse of the USSR and other socialist countries. CITU recognises that the fight against capitalism has to be fought worldwide, for which the unity of the world working is a must.

During these 44 years, the membership of CITU has increased from 8 lakhs to more than 60 lakhs, a credit to its struggles for the working class.

Revolutionary Greetings on this 44th Anniversary of the CITU!

Oppose Back-Door Privatisation of SBI – CITU

02 Friday May 2014

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CITU has issued the following statement on the SBI- Reliance Agreement:

It is reported that the State Bank of India (SBI) has signed up Reliance Money Infrastructure (RMIL), an Anil Arnbani Group company, in a ‘business correspondent’ deal to source a range of banking services.The deal authorises RMIL to identify borrowers; collect, process, and submit loan applications; promote credit groups.take up post-sanction monitoring, follow-up, and recovery. As the service provider, RMIL will also collect small-value deposits; sell micro-insurance, mutual fund and pension products; and receive and deliver small-value remittances. According to the report the deal which was concluded on February 25 this year had been made effective with retrospective effect from October 5, 2013.
This is nothing but backdoor privatization of the basic segment of the banking operation in the leading Public Sector bank like SBI– the core area of lending, recovery and also a part of deposit collection work.

We fear that this strategy now started with SBI will make inroads in other nationalized banks.The outsourcing is being done to agencies controlled by the largest monopoly house which had been named by the CAG in a recent scam, having a clear conflict of interest striking at the root of the very purpose of bank nationalization. Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India has blacklisted many of the service providers engaged by AXIS BANK, HDFC BANK etc., in the recent past, mainly because these agencies breached the trust of the banks that have engaged them.

The amendment of banking regulations carried out in a UPA-NDA joint operation inside Parliament has allowed a big number of private banks to enter into the field. The present move of outsourcing core lending cum deposit related jobs in nationalized banks is complementary to the former and the project is one of privatization of the entire banking operation and economy. This will be disastrous to the national economy, which could survive the global financial crisis primarily due to the nationalized banks. This also exposes the real intent of the Congress and BJP policies in favor of corporate cliques, both domestic and foreign.

Centre of Indian Trade Unions opposes any move to privatise the Public Sector Banks in any form. This move must be resisted tooth and nail. The CITU extends full support and solidarity to the Bank Employees Federations in their struggle against this move. We call upon the people in general and working class in particular to oppose this atrocious move by the SBI.

CITU WRITES TO MINISTER ON EPF ISSUE

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

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CITU Writes to Minister of EPF Issue
07.04.2014

Shri Oscar Fernandes,
Minister for Labour and Employment,
Govt. of India, New Delhi

Dear Shri Oscar Fernandes ji,

It is reported in the print media that Govt. of India has directed EPFO, to amend the circular of Central Provident Fund Commissioner, dated 30th November 2012 which relates to, inter alia, definition of wages for the purpose of PF contribution. I register my strongest protest over this decision of Govt. of India, which would reduce the PF related obligation of the employers at the huge cost of the workers- who are EPF subscribers.

After the circular was issued by the then CPFC Shri R.C. Mishra, it was put in abeyance. A tripartite working group was formed to “examine various aspects of the circular” which had CBT members representing employers and workers and also higher officials of EPFO. I was also a member of the working group. The unanimous decisions of the working group upholding the content of the EPFO Circular was finalized on 29th March 2013 and sent to Govt. Now after passage of more than one year the unanimous recommendation of the Working Group is nullified and the most important portion of this circular is being now done away with by the Govt to benefit the employers class at the cost of workers.

The most important part of the circular was on definition of wages. It has been our experience that wages are split in several heads to keep basic pay low to evade PF contributions, by the employers. The circular had clearly noted “the subterfuge of splitting wages to exclude PF liabilities”. To my knowledge, after the then CPFC Shri R.C. Mishra, two successor CPFCs had also endorsed the circular as was unanimously recommended by the working group.

I would also like to point out that this is happening in the background of two other important decisions – enhancing the minimum pension to Rs.1000 and increasing the wage ceiling for eligibility for PF enrolment to Rs.15,000 from Rs.6500 lying unimplemented, again to favour the same employers’ class at the cost of workers.

These decisions were taken by Central Board of Trustees under your Chairmanship only after the concurrence of the Finance Ministry. You and your colleagues had claimed that the Govt. wants to accept the long pending demands of workers. It was also reported widely that cabinet had approved these proposals.

Taken together, all these issues connected with the EPFO are being acted upon in such a way that legitimate dues to the workers are being denied while the employers being unduely favoured.

I urge upon you that the Circular of EPFO as unanimously upheld by the Working Group of CBT be implemented forthwith. I also demand that the decisions on enhancement of Minimum Pension under EPS, 1995 and enhancement of wage-ceiling be implemented with effect from 01-04-2014 as already announced and propagated by the Govt of India.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

(A.K. Padmanabhan)
Member, CBT, EPFO,
President, CITU

CITU on agitation on Contract Workers issues

01 Saturday Feb 2014

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The CITU Secretariat held on 31 January-1 February has decided to organise ‘A Week Long Intensive Campaign’ from 15th to 21st February to converge in State-wide Demonstration/Mobilisation/Agitation on 20th or 21st February 2014.
The main demands are:
a) End to mass-scale contractorisation of permanent work and regularisation of contract workers
b) Same wage and service conditions for contract workers in all establishments.

BSNLCCWF expresses its full support to the struggle of the contract workers! BSNLCCWF is also organising Demonstration on 26th February on the issues of the Casual and Contract workers in all sSSAs(Districts).

CITU opposes Airport Privatisation

09 Saturday Nov 2013

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CITU EXTENDS SUPPORT TO UNITED COUNTRYWIDE STRUGGLE OF AIRPORT EMPLOYEES
AGAINST PRIVATISATION OF AIRPORTS
24.10.2013

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions extends total support to the ongoing united struggle by the employees of Airport Authority of India against the retrograde move of the Govt to hand over 20 major airports of the country to private players on a revenue sharing basis.

The Joint Forum of Unions and Associations of AAI comprising all the unions of AAI employees have been conducting the struggle. They have successfully resisted the inspection of airports by the team of private players at Chennai and Lucknow and have now been staging relay hunger strike in all the AAI-run airports of the country where employees irrespective of affiliations have joined enmasse. Their struggle has also drawn support from all the trade unions in the country who have also expressed their solidarity to the ant-privatisation struggle by AAI employees. In the days to come their united agitation to resist the privatisation is going to be heightened further.

The Govt of India has planned to privatise 20 major revenue earning airports of the country through so called PPP route viz. the airports at Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Trichy, Varanasi, Indore, Amritsar, Udaipur, Gaya, Raipur, Bhopal, Agartala, Imphal, Mangalore and Voadodara on a revenue sharing basis. Most of these airports have already been modernized and expanded with huge investment from the state owned AAI’s exchequer, to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore plus and now these readymade renovated airports are being sought to be handed over to private control free of cost on a revenue sharing basis. Can there be anything more scandalous than that?

CITU condemns such retrograde move of handing over huge public property to private hands free of cost to facilitate windfall gain by private operators without making any investment whatsoever and likes to remind that theses public properties belong to the nation and not the council of ministers of the UPA Govt.

CITU calls upon the working people of the country and the trade union movement in particular to unitedly oppose such disastrous move of privatization of airports and extend all support and solidarity to the united struggle of the AAI employees in defence of country’s airport infrastructure.

14th Conference of CITU : Immediate Tasks

29 Wednesday May 2013

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The Immediate tasks outlined for the coming period by the 14th AIC of CITU is reproduced below:

1. Week-long intensive campaign at all workplaces and industrial areas commencing from CITU Foundation Day on 30th May 2013 focusing on demands;

i)      Minimum Wage at not less than Rs 10,000 per month and its linkage with consumer price index for the purpose of Dearness Allowance; ii)     Same Wage as regular workers for same and similar work for the contract workers in respective industries and establishments to be enforced stringently through appropriate amendment of Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition ) Act 1970; and iii)     Universal Social Security coverage and assured pension for all workers both in unorganized and organized sector;

–     Covering widest spectrum of workers and activising all union level committees;  –     Widespread distribution of handbills; pasting posters, holding gate-meetings, shop level meetings, at workers’ residential colonies, area level meetings etc to be decided by the state/district/area/union level committees; –     Aiming to reach widest sections of workers irrespective of their affiliations; –     State committees monitoring and sending reports to CITU centre with every details including number of printed materials circulated and number of workers directly covered.

2.     The campaign is to culminate in next week-long massive mobilization and agitation, the form to be decided by the state committees, at district/block/ tehsil  level or staging dharna before the central/state government offices.