People's Democracy

 RIGHT TO STRIKE

 TN Convention Calls For Relentless Struggle

 A K Padmanabhan

A STATE level convention on the right to strike, held at Chennai on October 13, resolved to work towards a countrywide general strike in defence of the right. The convention called upon the working people of Tamilnadu to wage continuous struggles to defend the right to strike and to repulse the anti-working class measures of the Jayalalitha government.

The convention was held in Kamaraj Memorial hall, the largest meeting hall available in the city. It was the follow up to the national convention held in New Delhi on September 26 on the right to strike.

A presidium consisting of J Hemachandran, MLA and CITU state president, S S Theagarajan, AITUC state general secretary, M Shanmugham, LPF general secretary, and leaders of INTUC, HMS, AICCTU, UTUC-LS and MLF conducted the proceedings

By the time the convention began at 4 p m, the hall was overflowing with men and women, representing various sections of working people, belonging to central trade unions, state and central government employees and teachers, and organisations of Bank, Insurance, Telecom, Defence employees.

T K Rengarajan of CITU welcomed the participants who had come mainly from Chennai, and from some other districts of Tamilnadu. Referring to the continuous attacks by the state and central governments on various sections of people, he called upon the toiling masses in the state to be prepared for powerful movements.

The convention adopted a resolution which outlined the increasing attacks on the working class by the state government and highlighted the danger posed by the judgment of the Supreme Court. It called upon the working people in the state to wage continuous movements and campaigns in defence of the right to strike and against the anti-worker policies of the state government.

The resolution called upon the working people in the state to observe the national protest day and the all India general strike, as per the call given by the national convention.

The representatives of all national federations could not be given the opportunity to speak in the convention due to time constraint.

Those speaking from the central trade unions included M K Pandhe, CITU general secretary and Gurudas Das Gupta, AITUC general secretary. All the speakers endorsed the resolution moved in the convention.

Pandhe, in his speech, referred to the pronouncements of various courts in the recent period and declared that no court or government in the country can take away the right to strike. The working people of the country will give a fitting reply by organising a strike, if the Vajpayee government fails to take necessary corrective steps to ensure workers rights are protected.

Referring to the developments in Tamilnadu, he reminded the present rulers about the lessons of history and how those who refuse to learn get thrown into the dustbins of history. He called upon the working people of the country to be prepared to participate in struggles ahead.

The success of this convention strengthened the morale of the various sections of toiling masses. However, efforts must continue to take the message of the national convention to the widest sections of the people in order to have successful implementation of the decisions.