People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 06
February 09, 2003
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 06 February 09, 2003 |
THE
Delhi
state
unit
of
the
Centre
of
Indian
Trade
Unions
(CITU)
has
launched
an
extensive
campaign
among
35
lakh
industrial
workers
of
Delhi,
Ghaziabad,
NOIDA
and
Faridabad
in
order
to
force
the
UP,
Haryana
and
Delhi
governments
to
resolve
several
long
pending
demands
of
workers.
These
demands
include
an
increase
in
statutory
minimum
wage
to
Rs
5,000
per
month,
strict
implementation
of
labour
laws,
an
end
to
contract
system,
and
scrap
of
the
recommendations
of
second
National
Commission
on
Labour,
etc.
The
CITU
has
also
decided
on
a
one-day
industrial
strike
and
rasta
roko
action
in
Delhi,
Ghaziabad,
NOIDA
and
Faridabad
on
March
27
as
a
culmination
of
this
campaign.
This
protest
campaign
and
the
subsequent
strike
intends
to
bring
lakhs
of
workers
on
to
the
streets
against
the
policies
of
globalisation,
liberalisation
and
privatisation
which
are
giving
a
free
rein
to
capitalists
for
unbridled
exploitation
while
exhorting
the
workers
to
adopt
a
new
work
culture.
In
the
name
of
economic
growth,
the
central
government
is
attempting
to
foist
the
anti-labour
recommendations
of
the
second
National
Commission
on
Labour.
This
will
virtually
deny
all
rights
to
workers,
leaving
them
at
the
mercy
of
greedy
industrialists.
The
policies
being
followed
by
the
government
have
aggravated
price-rise
and
unemployment,
and
led
to
a
spate
of
closures,
lockouts
and
wage
freezes,
even
as
the
government
continues
to
sell
profit
making
public
sector
undertakings
to
foreign
and
Indian
monopolists
at
unscrupulously
low
prices.
Even
after
55
years
of
independence,
workers
whose
labour
creates
all
wealth
are
being
given
starvation
wages.
The
labour
commission
said
only
Rs
4,500
is
sufficient
for
a
worker’s
family.
At
the
same
time,
it
has
itself
provided
a
loophole
by
suggesting
that
the
government
must
only
fix
the
wage
but
its
actual
implementation
must
be
the
employers’
prerogative.
The
CITU
has
appealed
to
all
workers
and
their
families
as
well
as
all
the
working
people
of
Delhi
and
surrounding
townships
to
participate
in
the
crucial
struggle
for
a
better
future.
(INN)
