NEW DELHI: The trade unions have condemned the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel as an "outrageous and atrocious" decision that will hurt the interests of the common people. "We shall move into action at the earliest," All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta said after a meeting of the sponsoring committee of the unions here on Monday.

The committee expressed concern over the deterioration in the working and living conditions of the working people, as a result of the Government's "anti-people" policies. The unions have decided to observe June 13 as a national protest day against Government policies and hold a national convention in August where an effective action plan will be decided, Mr. Dasgupta said.

Enormous hardship

The rising prices of all essential commodities, particularly petroleum products, have hit the people hard. The Government is planning to hike the issue price of food grains under the Public Distribution System, besides cutting down the allocations, said an AITUC statement. The Government failed to step up the procurement programme in time, allowing private traders and multinational companies to stock and hoard. It also began large-scale import of wheat, thus endangering the country's food security.The agrarian crisis in rural India is worsening, with more farmers committing suicide. The Government is yet to attend to this critical problem.

The Government has not kept its promise on the implementation of minimum wage law for farm workers and the enactment of a comprehensive protective legislation for them. Similar is the fate of its promise to enact legislation for workers in the unorganised sector, to ensure guaranteed minimum wage, social security and employment protection. There is rampant violation of labour laws and workers are attacked by employers and police in various States.

The judiciary passed verdicts favouring employers and placed fetters on the working class even in matters of exercising their democratic, labour and employment rights.

The Government has cut down drastically the interest rates on Employees Provident Fund, General Provident Fund, Public Provident Fund and small savings instruments affecting the interests of ordinary workers and senior citizens, the unions said. There is disinvestment of profitable and strategic sector PSUs, including nationalised banks, insurance, telecom, airports; coal, oil and mineral blocks are handed over to private vested interests; private and foreign capital is allowed entry even in defence production.

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