A joint convention of ten Central Trade Unions on September 30 will decide the date for a one-day hartal against the Union Government’s policies. The National Workers’ Convention, to be held in Street, will also chart a series of protests against “fast-track pro-employer labour law reforms, huge job losses, forcible retrenchment, lay-offs in various sectors”.

The trade unions blamed the continuing economic slowdown and faulty “neoliberal economic policy regime” of the Government for the problems faced by the workers.

A recent meeting of the leaders of the ten trade unions and various federations congratulated the defence sector employees and their federations for the strike in ordnance factories. “The unrest and spontaneous opposition by the employees and their family members of production units of Indian Railways against Government’s move to privatise them, agitations and struggles against privatisation of steel plants at Durgapur, Salem and Bhadrabati, agitation against disinvestment in BEML and NTPC was also taken note of,” the trade unions said in a joint statement.

They critcised the Centre’s efforts to dilute its share in banks, insurance and other public sector units (PSUs) and condemned the proposed labour codes. The meeting noted that in the background of continuing economic slowdown, Centre and most of the States are remaining an indulgent onlooker to the alarming phenomenon of job-losses and repression of labour rights.

“In such a situation, the Union Finance Minister has announced a host of further liberal concessions to the big business/corporate class, severely affecting the national exchequer, while the workers being biggest sufferers shamelessly denied any protection to unlawful retrenchment and lay-offs and any other relief at all. This exposes total servility of the Government to the moneyed class and its cruelty to the working people in general,” the trade unions said.

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