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Our Special Correspondent

MR JYOTI BASU

Kolkata , Oct 27

Veteran Marxist leader Mr Jyoti Basu has defended the setting up of trade unions in the IT sector but added that there was also a need to consider the sector as an essential service where the right to strike should not be abused.

"There will have to be trade unions in the sector and we cannot rob the workers their right (to form them)," but the IT sector should not be treated at par with other sectors, Mr Basu said at the end of the meeting of the State Secretariat of the CPI (M).

"We have also to consider how the sector can be brought within the essential services and work there is not affected by frequent strike calls as might be the case in other sectors."

There is no difference in opinion on the matter within the CPI(M), according to Mr Basu.

Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been emphasising the need for the IT sector to be considered in the essential services category.

He has been keen to keep it out of the purview of strikes, particularly as it is a key component of his plans for greater industrialisation in the State.

Mr Basu is, apparently, in agreement with the Chief Minister's argument that the IT sector be perceived differently from most other sectors when it comes to the question of strikes.

Earlier this week, the West Bengal IT Services Association - an umbrella organisation for employees in the IT sector - was formed under the Centre for Indian Trade Unions.

CITU president Mr M.K. Pandhe had said that the union was planning to set up unions or associations in the IT sector in some other States and that there was "nothing negative" about the formation of such unions - something which was being told to IT sector employers.

More Stories on : Trade & Labour Unions | Software | Politics | West Bengal

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