EDITORIAL
POSTAL CRUSADER OCTOBER-2014
LABOUR
LAWS AMENDMENTS – ONSLAUGHTS ON WORKING CLASS.
The union Government
is going to amend labour laws without prior discussion with Trade Unions.
Bilateral forums and tripartite bodies made for maintaining relations by way of
discussions between Government,Workers and employers are being dissolved only
to implement neo-liberal reforms for the benefit of multinational and national
corporates and curtailing workers rights and trade union facilities.
The
Rajasthan Government lead by Vasundhara Raje is being utilized as test
laboratory as it has taken first step to amend labour laws i.e. Industrial disputes
Act, Factories Act and contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act
incorporating anti worker provisions without discussion with Trade Unions. All
the amendments were placed in Rajasthan Assembly on 1st August, 2014
and were got passed on the same day. The industrial dispute act amendment
empowers employers to retrench the workers without prior permission of
government upto establishment of 300 and it also denies the rights of formation
of Trade Union unless they have at least 30 % membership.
The
amended factory act increases the coverage from 20 workers to 40 workers in the
factories without power and 10 to 20 with power? This amended Act has come as a
protection cover for employer as the court cannot take cognizance on the
complaints of violation of laws against the employer without written permission
from the State Government. The amendment to contract Labour (Regulation &
Abolition) Act keeps the employer out of purview of the Act in the
establishment where up to 49 workers are employed. The amendment in
apprenticeship act also gives the opportunity to employer to replace a regular
worker by apprentices.
After
passing these amendments in Rajasthan Assembly the Central Government Labour
Ministry posted in its website the proposals to amend all these acts and
introduced the Factories amendment Bill 2014 and the apprenticeship Act
(Amendment) Bill 2014 in Lok Sabha and brought back in business the Labour Laws
(Exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining of Registers by certain
establishment) Amendment Bill 2011 in Rajya Sabha This shows that the Modi
Government is also following the path of Vasundhara Raje Government of
Rajasthan.
This
trend of Govt. is alarming as it is developing the unilateralism and authoritarian
practices . All these so called reforms and amendments in Labour Laws will
empower the employers and will keep them out of purview of labour laws and
this paves the way of more exploitation
of workers in so many ways.
So
this is the need of the hour that all the workers whether they are in Govt.
sector, in public sector or in organized or unorganized sector, require to be
educated about all these changes and must be ready to fight all these
onslaughts unleashed by the Govt. unitedly and compel the Govt. to reverse back
the so-called reform policies which are being made in the favour of capitalist
class.
It is
in this background, all the Central Trade Unions including
BMS,INTUC,HMS,AITUC,CITU,UTUC etc. has decided to unitedly oppose this
anti-labour policies of the NDA Government . The National Convention of Workers
held at New Delhi on 15th September 2014 has decided to organise
nationwide campaign against the labour law amendments. The resolution adopted
unanimously by all Central Trade Unions and Federations calls upon the entire
working class of the country to fight out these policies at any cost. NFPE
calls upon the entirety of Postal and
RMS employees including Gramin Dak Sewaks to rally behind the banner of joint
plat form of Central Trade Unions and fight unitedly the unsought unleashed by
the Narendra Modi Government.
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