People's Democracy

A massive gathering of the Delhi Union of Journalists(DUJ) and press workers affiliated to the Delhi State Newspaper Employees Federation (DSNEF) at a meeting at Vithalbhai Patel House on December 20 gave a unanimous call for a 'National March To Parliament' during the budget session of parliament.

The participants later marched to parliament and held a rally at Parliament Street which was addressed, among others, by CPI(M) MPs Hannan Mollah and A Vijayaraghavan and Kerala Union of Working Journalists(KUWJ) president C Gouridasan Nair, DUJ president S K Pande, HT Employees Union president Anand Sharma and others.

The meeting passed a unanimous resolution calling for an end to the witchhunt of union activists, reinstatement of 362 Hindustan Times workers, immediate relief to starving workers of Patriot .

It charged that the government’s indecision on the Wage Board issue has created a serious situation in the newspaper industry where hundreds of journalists are being coerced into accepting contracts of bondage, which poses a serious danger to the freedom of the press and freedom of association. It castigated the government for not even announcing a media commission. The last Press Commission, incidentally, was set up 28 years ago.

The meeting also demanded immediate action against the managements blatantly violating the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act and the Working Journalists Act.