Demands the Government immediately implement the pro employee recommendations of Kamalesh Chandra Committee Report

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) congratulates the nearly three lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) of the Postal Department for the magnificent united all India Strike. All the four GDS Unions (AIPEU-GDS, AIGDSU, NUGDS & BPEDU) are on an indefinite strike from 22 May 2018. All the postal employees’ unions have supported the strike. As per reports the strike is total and 1,29,500 Branch Post Offices remained closed.

More than 60% of the employees of the Postal Department are GDS and more than 80% of the Post Offices are GDS Branch Post Offices. Major revenue of the department comes from GDS. They are not treated as Postal employees and were paid a pittance. The Gramin Dak Sevaks have a great legacy of struggles and whatever facilities they are enjoying at present is the result of their bitter struggles along with the postal employees.

This strike was forced by the NDA government which not only denied to address the long pending demands of the Gramin Dak Sevaks for regularisation as government employees, but refused to implement the recommendations of Kamalesh Chandra Committee Report on the service conditions of the GDS. The Committee which was appointed by the government to look into the service conditions of the Gramin Dak Sevaks had submitted its report as early in November 2016. The Union Minister had promised to implement the pro-employee recommendations of the report. Even after eighteen months the orders are still awaited. The GDS and their unions were forced to go on an indefinite strike after the government had failed to meet even the latest deadline of April 2018, it had promised.

CITU expresses solidarity with the striking employees and demands that the NDA government must immediately settle the issue by agreeing to the just demands of these grass root level workers who deliver valuable service to the common people.

Issued by
Tapan Sen
General Secretary

Source : CITU

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Press Release

1st February 2018

THE UNION BUDGET 2018-19: ANTI-PEOPLE ANTI-WORKER AND DECEPTIVE

The Union Budget 2018-19, presented by the Finance Minister of the Narendra Modi Govt today on a preliminary scrutiny, turns out to be deceptive one, meticulously articulated to misguide and confuse the people. The Budget is anti-workers, anti-people and also militates against the national interest. CITU condemns such an anti-people exercise.

The Budget remained liberal about extending concession to business houses. On the plea of supporting Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) the Budget extended the reduced corporate tax rate of 25% to companies having Rs 250 crore annual turnover. Is the turnover the right measure of identifying an MSME or the ‘capital deployed’ should categorise the MSME more honestly ? Will it really benefit the genuine MSMEs or allow the big players to corner the benefit ? However through such deceptive manner the burden on corporate houses has been reduced further by Rs 7000 crore while giving no relief to suffering millions reeling under post GST indirect tax burden. This along with other pro-corporate policy drives continued to remain the pattern of budget exercise of the Modi Govt in successive years of its governance pushing the entire country in the midst of extreme and obscene income inequality of one percent people cornering 73% of the national wealth. And yet the Govt will continue to call itself pro-poor.

Budget speech made no mistake in mentioning its resolve to extend the atrocious “fixed term employment” system to all the sectors consistent with its brazenly anti-worker pro-corporate drive for labour-law changes designed to impose slavery on the workers. While speaking lavishly about improving health, education and social welfare services toward universalisation, it remained totally negative in considering the long standing demands of about a crore workers working in its flagship scheme of NHM, Mid-day-Meal(MDM) and ICDS (Anganwadi) and other related central govt schemes of extending them at least the right to statutory minimum wages and attendant social security benefits. In fact the allocation under National Health Mission (NHM) has been reduced and on ICDS and MDM there are marginal increase that too for other expenditures. Such an attitude is utterly condemnable.

On employment generation also, the claim made in the budget speech is also not true. In fact, even as per official estimate, the net employment generation has turned negative in absolute term if job-losses owing to closure of factories/establishments during the period is taken into account. The claim of creation of 70 lakh jobs in the formal sector said to be based on the increase in number of EPFO data as touted by a so called “independent study” upheld by the Finance Minister is another hoax to confuse and misguide the people and a cruel joke on the several lakhs of unemployed. Rather every step of this Modi Govt is degenerating the employment situation in the country; and all concessions being given to business houses by the Govt including bearing the burden of employers contribution in EPF, allowing liberal income tax rebate to employers on account of wages paid to the newly employed workers etc is actually an arrangement of organized pilferage from the national exchequer by the employers’ class in complicity with the custodians of the said exchequer, without creating any employment whatsoever. Added to this has been the recent move of abolishing all posts in central govt establishment deliberately kept vacant for last five years, killing lakhs of employment positions.

The Budget speech has gone extremely lavish in pronouncing commitments for development of agriculture and rural development along with launching so many schemes, whereas budgetary allocation for 2018-19 both on account of Agriculture and Allied Services and Rural Development marked a marginal increase of Rs 9793 crore in nominal term meaning actually a decline both in real terms and also as a percentage of GDP and total budgetary allocations. The Budget gave a shockingly surprising news that the Govt has already implemented the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at the rate of one and half times of production cost for majority of the Rabi Crops and now the Govt is committed to extend the same to Kharif crops in the current year also which is totally untrue. Even Govt’s deposition before the Apex Court in this matter is reportedly negative.

Similarly, the budgetary statement about putting in place under its flagship programme of National Health protection Scheme to provide for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization at the rate of Rs 5 lakh per family per year to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, if weighed in terms of actual budgetary allocations, turns out be another hoax. The budgetary allocation on this account is merely Rs 1600 core which can cover hardly 10 lakh families (and not 10 crore). And such discrepancy exposes the dubious intent. Overall, behind the shrill fraudulent noise of all round development, the budget continued to remain a contractionary budget and focus of almost all govt expenditures are designed to benefit only the rich and propertied business class and the common people and the workers in particular are being subjected to deeper exploitation and repression.

Budget speech lavishly spoke about developing self reliance in defence production and what is being actually done is setting the process of destruction of the existing indigenous manufacturing capabilities in the Ordnance factories, the defence PSUs and country’s shipyards by way of mass scale outsourcing in favour of private sector, both foreign and domestic turning around half of the Ordnance Factories redundant and starving the Defence PSUs and Shipyards of work-orders. On the same way, under the camouflage of expanding Railway network, the project of total privatization of Railways is being pursued in full swing. Are these in any manner serving national interests or sabotaging the same in favour of foreign players ?

The Govt has been moving fast in selling out the national assets through wholesale privatization. In the current year the target for disinvestment /privatization is kept at Rs 80000 crore to keep on the pace of its ‘destroy India’ programme under the camouflage of “Make in India”.

CITU denounced the budget 2018-19 of the Modi Govt and calls upon the working class to unitedly protest and fight against the fraud and exploitation they are being subjected to simultaneously.

Issued by
(Tapan Sen )
General Secretary

Source: Confederation

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The Minister of State for Labour and Employment(Independent Charge), Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar met the representative of all Central Trade Unions in Shram Shakti Bhawan on 7th November 2017 to discuss the issues raised in 12 Point Charter Demand of CTUOs. The meeting was attended by representatives of major Central Trade Unions including BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC and NFITU as well as Secretary, Labour and Employment Mrs. Sathiyavathy and other the senior officers of the Ministry. 12 Point Charter Demand of CTUOs inter alia raises issues of minimum wages, price rise, unemployment, disinvestment, universal social security, compulsory registration of trade unions, increase in minimum pension under EPFO and strict compliance and enforcement of labour laws. The Minister said that the Government has highest regard for the consultative process and he is committed to uphold it. He referred to the calls for nation-wide demonstrations on 9th-10th and 17th November by the CTUOs and BMS respectively and appealed the Trade Unions to rather engage in the constructive discussions on each of the issue raised by them.

Minister said that the Government and the Ministry of Labour and Employment has consistently and continuously taken pro-labour decisions and initiatives. He talked about initiatives like simultaneous increase in Minimum wages, the provision for National Floor Level Minimum wages in the proposed Labour Code on Wages. The Bonus Amendment Act, the decision to enhance Minimum pension to Rs. 1000/- as well as the other initiatives taken by other Ministries.

Trade Union representatives primarily demanded the Government to address the issues of enhancing Minimum Pension to Rs. 3000/- as well as Minimum Wages. They also talked at length about the issues related to enforcement of labour laws, and social security for unorganized workers including growing contractualization.

A presentation was also made by the Ministry to present an updated status on the 12 demands raised by the CTUOs.

Addressing the Media persons the Minister expressed hope that the talks with the Trade Union Representatives was positive and it was done in a cordial atmosphere. He appealed to the Trade Unions to call off the proposed Dharna.

PIB

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Press Release

2nd September 2015

CITU Salutes the Working Class of India for the Historic Strike On 2nd September 2015

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions congratulates and salutes the working class of India for the unprecedented and historic strike today against the anti worker, anti people and anti national policies of the BJP led NDA government.

Over 15 crores workers employed in almost all the sectors of the country’s economy covering the organised and unorganised sectors, public and private sectors, the central and state government sectors and the scheme workers participated in this strike. Protest demonstrations, rasta roko and rail roko were held across the country in which thousands of workers participated.

Police was used on the workers in several states. The Trinamool government in West Bengal used the brutal force of its police as well as its goons to physically attack the workers on strike. In fact attack by Trinamool goons to foil the strike started at least three days before the strike date and during this period several processions and meetings for strike campaign in different places in the state were attacked, offices were ransacked and many activists were injured. On the day of the strike, police along with Trinamool goons carried on brutal attacks on the strikers and TU activists throughout the state severely injuring many of the activists including senior leaders. Workers and their leaders were arrested in several places in the state. Police resorted to severe lathi charge and arrests in many other states including Assam, Jammu and Kashmir etc. CITU congratulates the workers, particularly in West Bengal for heroically resisting these attacks and participating in the strike in a massive manner.

In many states, including West Bengal, Kerala, Tripura, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, many districts of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh etc the strike turned into a virtual bandh with road transport and normal activities coming to a grinding halt. The manufacturing activities in several industrial clusters across the country totally stopped due to the strike.

The unprecedented response to the strike reflects the anger and resentment of the workers against the attacks on their working and living conditions and the attempts to deny their basic justifys by amending the labour laws to benefit the national and multinational corporations. It reflects the anger at ignoring their basic demands that were being raised since the last several years. It also reflects the determination of the working class to fight back the nefarious design of the corporate-serving Govt at the centre to impose slavery on them through draconian changes in all labour laws. Through this strike the working class of India has warned the government that it was not going to take lying down the attacks on its basic justifys. It also warned the government that policies that mortgage the country to corporate interests, both foreign and domestic will not be tolerated.

The CITU extends its gratitude to the massive support and solidarity extended to the strike by various sections of the people including kisans, agricultural workers, adivasis etc.

CITU demands the government to scrap all the anti worker amendments to the labour laws and take immediate concrete action on all the demands raised by the joint trade union movement.

It calls upon the working class to further strengthen the unity at the grass root level and be prepared for more intense struggles if the government chooses to continue with its policies.

Issued by,

(TAPAN SEN)
General Secretary

Source: Confederation

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 CENTRE OF INDIAN TRADE UNIONS

A K PADMANABHAN, President

TAPAN SEN, M.P., General Secretary

Press Release

13th February 2014

CITU CONGRATULATES THE BANK AND CENTRAL GOVT EMPLOYEES
FOR THEIR COUNTRYWIDE TWO DAYS STRIKE ACTION

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions congratulates 10 lakh employees and officers of country’s banking sector for their historic two days strike action on 10-11 February 2014 led by the all in united platform of employees and officers-the United Forum of Bank Unions. The main demands of the bank employees and officers had been negotiated settlement on wage revision which has fallen overdue. The Bank employees also demanded to put a stop in mass scale outsourcing of banking services along with hectic deregulation of the banking sector much to the detriment of the interests of the national economy. The UFBU had once deferred the strike dates, demonstrating their eagerness for a negotiated and respectable settlement. Rut arrogance of the Finance Ministry as well as bank management compelled the employees and officers to go in for countrywide two days strike and the strike was almost total on both the days throughout the country reflecting the firm resolve of the bank employees and officers and their unions to fight to the last for legitimate rights of the employees as well as in defence of the state-owned banking sector of the economy. CITU resolves to continue all out support to the united struggles of the bank employees and officers while hailing them for the two days historic strike action on 10-11 February 2014.

The CITU also congratulates the Central Govt employees for their successful countrywide strike action on 12-13 February 2014 to press for their demands pertaining to scrapping of the anti-employee new-pension scheme, immediate action on merger of DA with basic pay, announcement of interim relief, regularization of the gramin-dak-sevalcs and filling of the huge number of vacancies in the central government offices etc. The two days strike was called by the Confederation of Central Govt Employees and Workers and other organizations which has been responded magnificently by the central government employees enmasse throughout the country. There are about 64 main departments of the central government establishments spread over 22 states and union territories employing around 14 lakh employees. By the end of the second day, the strike was almost total in 8 states, 90 per cent in 6 states, above 70 per cent in 6 states and around 40 to 60 per cent in 2 states. Such a massive strike action demonstrated the determination of the mass of the central govt employees to defend their legitimate rights and also fight against the trend of mass scale contractorisation and casualisation of jobs keeping several lakhs of vacancies in the central govt establishments unfilled. CITU reiterates its continued support to the struggle of central govt employees while again commending them for their heroic countrywide two days strike action.

CITU demands upon the Govt of India to take note of the massive resentment among the workers and employees in both banks and central govt establishments and promptly act in addressing legitimate demands of the bank and central govt employees while reversing their retrograde policies on both the sectors.
Issued by

(TAPAN SEN )
General Secretary

Source: www.citucentre.org

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Along with the Finance Minister, both the Minister of State for Finance Shri S.S. Palanimanickam and Shri Namo Narain Meena, Adviser to the Finance Minister, Shri Parthasarthy Shome, Finance Secretary, Shri R.S. Gujral, Secretary, Financial Services & Disinvestment, Shri D.K. Mittal, Revenue Secretary, Shri Sumit Bose, Secretary Labour & Employment, Shri Mrityunjay Sarangi, Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Raghuram R. Rajan and Chairman CBEC were present among others.

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