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Sunday, Oct 28, 2007
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Circular to “suppress” strike criticised

Special Correspondent

Unions not invited to discuss issues: CITU

Centre ignoring commitment given in CMP
Demands immediate withdrawal of circular

NEW DELHI: The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has condemned the Central government’s circular to “suppress” the nationwide strike by government employees on October 30.

In a letter addressed to Minister of Personnel Suresh Pachouri, CITU president M.K. Pandhe drew his attention to the circular issued by the Joint Secretary (Estt) of the Ministry asking all Central Ministries to take action against the employees — including pay cut, dismissal from service — for participating in the strike. The circular also directs the Ministries not to sanction casual leave and make security arrangements to break the strike.

Though the strike notice was served by the unions well in advance, along with the charter of demands, the Centre did not invite the trade unions to discuss the matters raised in the charter, with a view to settling all outstanding issues amicably, the letter said. The commitment given in the national common minimum programme that trade unions would be consulted regularly was being ignored by the government in this case.

The Centre quoted the Supreme Court judgment on Tamil Nadu government employees’ strike in which the apex court denied the employees the right to strike. The entire trade union movement had opposed the judgment and the Prime Minister had promised in the last session of the Indian Labour Conference that the government would consider the views of the trade unions, the letter said.

The CITU demanded the immediate withdrawal of the circular and asked the government to invite the trade unions for a discussion on the charter of demands. It said that if the government insisted on its anti-workers policies and threatened the workers in such an arbitrary manner, the trade union movement would not be a silent spectator and would rally behind the Central government employees in their hour of trial.

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