Labour organisations weakening with time
About 20 crore labourers across the country from various outfits have called for two day national bandh to protest against the anti-labour policies and unilateral decisions regarding labour welfare programmes announced by the central government.
This bandh has been supported by 10 labour organisations. Two day bandh is really a big blow to the country’s exchequer. But then the central government has been implementing policies for labourers without consulting them about their opinion about proposed changes.
The government isn’t responding to the pleas submitted by labourers or even by two major rallies taken out by the farmers. Hence, to make the government listen to the labourers and others, such hard protest is much necessary. Except for Bharatiya Mazdoor Sanghatana which is the subsidiary of Sangh Parivar, all other labour organisations have supported this bandh.
There are two reasons why the anti-labour movements are getting implemented in the country. One is that the labour organisations have lost steam and weakened with time. Second one is that the labour organisations have been deeply politicized.
Hence the labour federations and organisations have to attend to the issues challenging the solidarity of labour collectives instead of getting down to solving their problems. Political parties have clearly mislead the labourers who came to show solidarity with them. The same labourers are now taking to streets in the name of religion and caste. They are identifying with the political parties that are implementing policies that are against their very welfare.
Only 8% of the total workers are in organized sector and the rest of 92% are in unorganized sector working under dire conditions and life challenges. The labour organisations and governments have to train their focus on them and find solutions to their problems. But then there are many challenges before the goal is accomplished. Women are in huge numbers in unorganized sector which is ever expanding. Information technology sector has posed a challenge to particular work atmosphere.
Now with modes of transportation having seen revolutionary changes overnight, private taxis like Ola and Uber have been witnessing complex issues that the country never witnessed before. Most of the public sector companies are worn out owing to the interference of the governments of their time.
But the government neither has plans nor is holding discussions with the labourers on schemes or packages for the rehabilitation of labourers or the organisations. The fixed hour work contract that was implemented in garment industry in 2016 is pro-industry and aids the employers to make terms according to their convenience instead of labour welfare. Now that policy has been implemented in all sectors.
As per that policy, the labourer can be removed from the job at any given time without prior notice, by the employer. Almost all the multinational companies are implementing the labour contract system has turned into a massive challenge since 1970 onwards.
With the labour federations and organisations facing the biggest challenge threatening their existence with pressure being mounted from every corner to eliminate them, how can they find solutions outside the political equations and situations? In fact even BMS with its RSS background has also objected to including MNCs and policies pertaining to labour into time bound contract and labour code bill of 2017.
The organization has sought to the government to present a whitepaper on the dependency of the government on MNCs and how many jobs have MNCs generated in the recent times. BMS had openly criticized the anti-labour approach of Modi government. But BMS stopped participating in nationwide bandhs since 2015 September even when the issues were about the safety and future of labourers.
The organization said they are more concerned about labour welfare than staging dharna or bandh or even indulging in politics. One of the core duties of organized labour sector is to facilitie tripartite discussions between joint labour federations, the government and employers to conduct meaningful discussions and find solutions for problems plaguing the sector.
Most labour organisations feel NDA government rejects any chance to hold discussions with the labour movements, feel the leaders of labour collectives. Labour welfare and shutting down of manufacturing units is not just owing to indiscriminate removing of people from jobs, but is also against the spirit of democracy.
Labour organisations owe it to people to take the real picture to them and make the labour welfare as people’s welfare. This has to be inclusive of labour welfare and public welfare too. Unless the labour sector becomes a political force to reckon with again, it cannot even dream of wielding political power. bandh will merely be something that people will never understand and complain against.
The question may arise about the government’s stance to this whole issue that having known govt’s unresponsiveness to this, why would the organisations still call a bandh? Labour organisations have to inform people that the core issue that is affecting manufacturing sector would have a bearing on everyone.
Labour movement has to become a common cause which would then ensure it would turn into a political power. Once when the parties know people and labourers are together, they will come down on their knees to fulfil the demands.
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Speaker rules out discussion on Guv''s conduct amid K''taka Assembly standoff
Bengaluru (PTI): In an effort to end the logjam over the Governor's address that has stalled proceedings for the past week, Karnataka Assembly Speaker U T Khader on Wednesday ruled that legislators should not discuss Thaawarchand Gehlot or his conduct in the house, saying such debates send the wrong message to the public.
The House has witnessed repeated disruptions and adjournments since the session began on January 22 over the issue of the governor's conduct.
During his address to the joint sitting of the Karnataka legislature on January 22, Gehlot read out only three sentences from the 122-paragraph speech prepared by the state government.
The speech included criticism of the Centre for replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajivika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), portions of which the governor declined to read.
Concluding his address in about two minutes, the governor left the house, triggering a commotion as Congress legislators attempted to gherao him and raised slogans.
While the opposition BJP accused the ruling Congress and its ministers of "insulting" the governor and demanded action, the treasury benches countered by claiming the governor had "insulted the National Anthem by leaving before it was played."
The house again witnessed heated arguments on the issue earlier in the day, leading to adjournment.
During the interruption, Khader held a meeting with ministers and opposition members to resolve the impasse.
When proceedings resumed, the speaker delivered his ruling.
Referring to the events of January 22 and the subsequent debate, Khader said the conduct and discussions had conveyed the wrong message to the public.
"Our conduct as members of this House and the opinions expressed must be in good taste and in accordance with constitutional provisions. They must uphold the dignity of the House and its members. We must introspect in this direction," he said.
He stressed the need for caution to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future.
"Let us end this matter here, continue the discussion on the motion of thanks to the governor, and refrain from discussing the governor or his conduct in this house," the speaker said.
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said the house should express regret over what he termed an "insult" to the governor.
Responding, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the situation would not have arisen had the governor read out the entire address.
"Asking the house to express regret is not appropriate. Why did the governor leave even before the National Anthem was played," Siddaramaiah asked.
BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar reminded Siddaramaiah that as Leader of the Opposition in 2011, he had asked then Governor Hansraj Bhardwaj to curtail his address.
Bhardwaj had subsequently placed the address on the table of the house, requesting members to treat it as read.
Siddaramaiah said the situation in January 2011 was different from the present one.
The debate grew intense, leading to another adjournment of the house.
