The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Protection sought for night shift workers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 16, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Protection sought for night shift workers

Staff Reporter

`Security and safety of employees are being compromised everywhere and Karnataka is no exception'

BANGALORE: All employees, particularly women working in night shifts in the city, should be ensured protection and safe, harassment-free work environment, the Vice-President of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, P.T. Rao, said here on Sunday.

Speaking at the 16th tri-annual conference of the sangh, Mr Rao said workers'security and safety are being compromised everywhere and Karnataka is no exception.

Help

To address this, he said, State governments should seek help from the Centre to put in place a foolproof system that will ensure no employee is vulnerable to harassment or victimisation.

Referring to the recent murder of a call centre employee here, Mr. Rao said that it showed that workers in Karnataka feel less secure than their counterparts in other States.

Lakhs of workers in the information technology and related sectors are now worried over their safety, he added. The President of the State unit of the sangh, Allampalli Venkataram, said that the Centre's move to reduce the interest rate on the Provident Fund money to 8.5 per cent shows that it is ready to compromise on workers' and employees' welfare especially in their post-retirement years.

There was a time when the interest rate on the Provident Fund money was 12 per cent. It was reduced to 9.5 per cent and now to 8.5 per cent. "There is no future for Provident Fund," he said.

Uday Rai Patwardhan, General Secretary of the sangh, said the United Progressive Alliance Government is long on promises and assurances about pro-poor schemes and eliminating unemployment, but short on delivering them.

During the Eighth Plan, it was well known that a target of 5.6 per cent growth rate could ease the unemployment problem considerably, he said.

However, in the Tenth Plan, the growth rate increased to 7.3 per cent, but the unemployment scenario only worsened, he said.

The prospects of jobs for the poor are bleaker than ever, he added.

Government blamed

The General Secretary of the State unit, Sadashiva, blamed the Government for the closure of some of the State public sector undertakings such as New Government Electric Factory (NGEF).

He expressed the sangh's concern over the closure of mining in the Western Ghats that has affected the employees of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited.

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