ALAPPUZHA: Trade union leaders who participated in a workshop on `Changing role of trade unions in the present industrial scenario,' organised by the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment (KILE) here on Tuesday, called for timely changes in the trade union work and making the functioning of the Labour Department more effective to tackle the problems faced by

workers. They opined that any weakening of the trade union movement would lead to a situation of anarchy.

INTUC Alappuzha district president A.K. Rajan said that in the times of globalisation the trade union movement should realise the need for making necessary changes quickly in order to reap the benefits of the new regime.

The UTUC leader V. Mohan Das said that while the trade unions were active in some sectors, they were not trying to organise workers in unorganised sectors. Thousands of workers in shops and other business concerns in the State were not members of any trade unions and they were not getting even minimum wages as prescribed by the Government. For example, Mr. Mohan Das noted, sales girls in textile shops were paid wages as low as Rs.500 a month for working over ten hours daily. Similar is the plight of several journalists working in the print and the visual medias, he noted. Few journalists get the protection of wage board award and a large number of them work round-the-clock for meagre salaries, he said. At present the Labour Department did not have the power to solve the problems of the workers and it should be strengthened to provide timely redressal of the complaints of workers, he suggested.

G. Pushparajan, chairman of Foam Mattings (India) Ltd., and leader of the trade union wing of the JSS, said those who implement globalisation should also find a way to help workers who lose job as a result of the changes in the industrial sector.

George Varghese, president of Alappuzha Chamber of Commerce, observed that globalisation was only one of the reasons for the changes in the industrial sector. He pointed out that the developments in science and technology and the changed mindset of the people were also leading to changes in the industrial sector. It was futile to fight globalisation as it would occur even if we did not want. The need of the hour was to influence globalisation in such a way as to benefit the people of developing nations, he said. The AITUC leader T.J. Anjelose said the absence of trade unions would lead to a situation of anarchy in the industrial sector. Though the industrialists in the country might feel that absence of trade unions would be beneficial to them, the ultimate result would not be beneficial. The Congress leader G. Balachandran was the moderator. R. Chandrasekharan, chairman of KILE, proposed a vote of thanks. Earlier, the management expert K.A. Pillai took class on the `Impact of Globalisation on Labour.'

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