CITU CONDEMNS THE ATTACK

The general council meeting of CITU being held on July 23-26 at Alappuzha, in a resolution expressed serious concern at the brutal attack on a peaceful rally of workers in Gurgaon in Haryana on 25th July 2005. Following is the text of the resolution, which was introduced by secretary K Hemalata and seconded by secretary  Tapan Sen:

THE rally was organised to protest against the unlawful mass retrenchment of workers in the Honda factory in Gurgaon, immediately after they formed a union. To oppress the struggle against retrenchment that was being organised jointly by the trade unions in Gurgaon, the district administration imposed prohibitory orders on all mobilisations. On July 25, 2005, the workers assembled at a spot in Gurgaon city, about 10 km away from the Honda factory to start the procession towards the district headquarters. The police started lathicharge on the workers, without any provocation. Hundreds of workers were injured in the attack, but undeterred, they moved forward. The police then resorted to large-scale arrests. Hundreds of workers were arrested. Around 250 have been severely injured. Raj Singh, the president of the district committee of CITU has also been seriously injured and hosptialised.

The CITU general council condemns the lathicharge by the Haryana police on the workers. It demands upon the Haryana state government to bring the erring officials to book and release all the arrested workers immediately.  The general council also demands the state government to prevail upon the Honda management to take back all the retrenched workers unconditionally.

The general council call upon all affiliated unions and state committees also to protest against the brutal attack on trade union rights in Haryana.

AIAWU

The All India Agricultural Workers Union condemns the senseless violence let loose by the Haryana police against the striking employees of the Honda company in Gurgaon wounding, hundreds some of them at death’s door.

The attack is typical of the treatment being meted out to the victims of the policies neo-liberal economic being imposed on third world countries by the WTO.

The brutal treatment of the Honda workers is reminiscent of what has happened to the peasants of Ganganagar and Tonk in Rajasthan or the forest dwellers of Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. The  policy of taking away every scrap of security from workers, peasants and small owners and handing over everything to corporates and multinationals who will be given the freedom to exploit workers and natural resources at will with the help of state machinery in return for foreign investment is not acceptable from the stand point of Indian democracy and sovereignty.

We demand the government not only enquire into the clash engineered by the police with the workers to tech the unions a lesson, but also into how the employers have treated the workers and declared a lockout creating the conditions for tension.  The officials who have taken part in the murderous attack on hundreds of innocent workers must be suspended and transferred from the area to ensure the enquiry is free and fair.

The union pledges its support to united struggle to defend the rights of the Honda workers and of peasants and agricultural labourers fighting against the violence unleashed on them by the state machinery in its shameless attempt to impose anti-national policies dictated by the WTO that the people are resisting correctly.

We call on all organisations of workers and peasants to come forward with medical and other help to ensure that the workers of Gurgaon can fight for justice till they succeed.

AISGEF

The All India State Government Employees’ Federation (AISGEF) deeply condemns the brutal police attack on the protesting retrenched workers of Honda Motorcycle factory of Gurgaon.  Already more than 700 workers are seriously injured.

By this savagery of the police, the highly repressive character of the capitalist state against protesting workers have been nakedly revealed.

The AISGEF demands exemplary punishment against the police authorities who were in league with Honda factory owners and also against Haryana chief minister. Prime Minister should act accordingly.

We urge all workers and employees to rise in immediate protest against this savagery.