Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 21, 2008
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jan 21, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
ON JUDICIAL ISSUES: (From left) A. K. Ganguly, Chief Justice, Orissa High Court; A. P. Shah, Chief Justice, Madras High Court; P. Sathasivam, Supreme Court Judge; AR. Lakshmanan, Chairman, Law Commission of India; Surinder Singh Nijjar, Chief Justice, Calcutta High Court; and P. D. Dinakaran, Madras High Court Judge, at a seminar in Chennai on Saturday. CHENNAI: Central trade unions, including the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), are getting ready for a prolonged struggle against “anti-labour and pro-management policies” of the Centre. The unions will meet in New Delhi on January 23 to chalk out their course of action. Bank employees affiliated to the AIBEA have called for a token strike on January 25 and February 25 and 26, demanding second-option pension and protesting against the merger of banks, especially the State Bank of India, with its subsidiaries. They are also planning to go on an indefinite strike after March, if their demands are not met. In an interview to The Hindu here on Saturday, AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta said general insurance employees and coal workers would also launch a series of agitation against the Centre’s “anti-labour policies.” According to a Central Government notification, Mr. Dasgupta claimed, there had been a significant increase in the membership of trade unions, especially those in agriculture and unorganised sectors. Workers were more unionised now, and this marked a positive trend. But, the weakness was the multiplicity of trade unions, as the country today needed a united trade union movement to fight the economic policies of the Centre, Government which, were “corporate friendly.” There was a large-scale displacement of workers. Permanent employees were being replaced by contract workers. The productivity and the workload of workers had increased substantially, while their wages had gone down. Violation of labour laws and non-payment of statutory wage dues were rampant. There had been a “ruthless capitalist development supported by the State apparatus.” Describing the merger of banks as a wrong step, he said it would result in high-profile profit banking business. It would also run counter to the Government’s objective of financial inclusion, as there would be a reduction in the number of bank branches, especially in rural areas. C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All-India Bank Employees Association, said more bank branches were being opened in urban areas, while rural people were denied banking facilities — in the last two years, only 38 branches were opened in rural areas against 3,659 branches in urban pockets.
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