WORKERS SHALL PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS AGAINST EXPLOITATION
THROUGH A STRONG UNITED STRUGGLE.
The B.J.P. coming in to power with thumping
majority in the recent general elections has immediately announced its
priorities in the first one hundred days of its rule. They are: a) to hasten the
process of labor laws codification b) to hasten land acquisition reform c) dismantling
and privatizing public sector units and industry.
These priorities
announced by the BJP led NDA government are in accordance with the wish lists
presented by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) the representative of
big capital and industries and most of the foreign and Indian stock-market
brokerages like Goldman sachs of USA, Morgan standy of U.S.A, U.B.S, Credit
Suisse, Elara capital, Edelweiss etc.
The government claims
that it has taken up these priorities in order to attract $ 100 billion worth of foreign
direct investment (FDI) annually and technology transfer. It also claims that
it intends to finish its, unfinished agenda to bring India in to the top 50 in
the world bank's’ ease of doing business rankings. The government emphasizes
that it could bring out economic growth by immediately reforming the labor-laws
and land acquisition laws being demanded by the big capital.
Today the back-bone
economic sector for India, the agricultural sector is thrown in to deep crisis.
Rural distress and poverty have reached to the severest limits. During the
period of implementation of neo-liberal economic policies dictated by the
imperialist globalisation more than 2,00,000 farmers have committed suicides
due to unviable farming under the conditions created by market-forces. Crores
of small and petty farmers have been reduced in to marginal unskilled daily
manual labourers and are forced to migrate to cities after seeking livelihoods.
On the other hand unemployment has reached a 45 year high, leaving more of the
educated you in unemployment. Job creation in the recent years has been in dire
situation even according to the labour force survey of the government made
public in May 2019. The worker participation rate has also declines
considerably in this decade.
Instead of addressing
this dire situation being suffered by majority of people of our country the
B.J.P. rulers chose to fulfil the wishes of the big-capital and speculative
stock-market brokerages. Thus they come out in their true colours of
anti-worker, anti-people class nature of exploiting classes.
The government has
already made preparations to ‘reform’ the existing 44 labour laws that provide
protection to the rights of workers. With the B.J.P. government is either doing
away with the rights of workers or is reframing them to the total advantage of
the big-capital industry.
Presently the
government is readied to introduced a national minimum wage code bill and code
on occupational safety health and working conditions bill in the coming
parliamentary sessions and made them in to laws.
On the pretext of a
national minimum wage code bill, the B.J.P. government is introducing a
so-called universal minimum wage system recommended by the imperialist
financial organisation World Bank. This universal minimum wage is not based on
the scientific basis of present day requirements of a worker of our country,
but on improper and incorrect proposals of those ‘experts’ of W.B. with the
support of the so-called experts of I.L.O., in accordance and need of the
principles dictated by neoliberal economics of imperialist globalisation. This
fixation of this nation-wide minimum wages will be far less than the present
day existing minimum wages fixed by the governments. In the name of backward
regions the minimum wage will be fixed at a lowest rate of many other regions.
On the other hand the rights of workers to get bonus payments, O.T. entitlement
of double pay and other entitlements of various allowances will be done away or
considerably reduced. Thus this wage code is mooted to the benefit of
industrialists to reduce their costs on the expenditure of wages and other
allowances payable to workers.
The new code bill on
occupational safety, health and working conditions too is not intended to
improve the working conditions, safety and safe health conditions to workers.
But it is intended to benefit the industrial managements towards reducing their
expenditure on these concerns. It is imposing limitations on payments of
compensation due to deaths and disablement in industrial workplace accidents
at a more lower level than from the present entitlements of compensation under
workmen’s compensation act. It also limits the payment of wages during sick
periods of occupational ill-health and sickness. We have been witnessing
numerous workplace accidents where a considerable number of workers are being
killed without any safety protection or being disabled in workplace accidents
and the managements are blatantly evading of paying compensations to the
deceased or disabled workers in the workplace accidents unwilling to pay
compensation according to government's attack of abolishing the legal
rights of workers of this country.
All the trade unions
keeping away from their differences of political, regional, religious and other
affiliations and sentiments must unite to fight relentlessly against the
anti-worker policies of the government.
With the exclusive
principle of strong unity and struggle against anti-working class policies and
to protect the legal rights of working-class each and every worker shall
prepare to fight and join in the struggle against the attacks on their legal
rights.
A strong workers
movement against this onslaught of workers’ rights in the need of the hour.
Workers themselves have to fight for their rights.
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