CITU conference will uphold interest of workers

Madurai, Dec 3 (UNI) Pro-liberalisation judicial pronouncements and interpretations undermining the interest of workers will top the agenda of the CITU national conference being held in Bangalore from January 17.

CITU National Secretary A K Padmanabhan told UNI here the judiciary, having played the role of an active facilitator of the globalisation programme, was a matter of grave concern as it ran contrary to the spirit of the constitution.

Many rulings of the Supreme Court and High Courts in the last 15 years, instead of being guided by the law of the land and the Constitution, were either reflected of or in tune with the economic reforms, he added.

The Supreme Court's order on contract workers, the latest in the series of ''anti-labour pronouncements'' was cited as a case in point. It was in this context that the necessity was felt to discuss thread-bare the role of the judiciary at the Bangalore national conference, he said.

According to him the contract system of employing people for more than 15 20 years was nothing but a camouflage for the illegalities of employers in the post-liberalisation phase. It was also contrary to the earlier pronouncement of the apex court, he explained.

Making it clear that Left trade unions were not opposed to reforms in the labour laws aimed at protecting the right of workers, the CITU leader said they were only against dilution of existing rights, earned through hard struggles.

The demand for ''flexibility'' coming from investors and corporates was termed as an euphemism to rob even the 20 million workers in the organised sector of statutory protection, he said.

Mr Padmanathan said the vast majority of 380 million workers, in the unorganised sector remain deprived of statutory cover. When minimum wages and equal pay could not be ensured by the present ''ineffective statutes'', the question of making them flexible would not even arise, he observed.

Many private firms and corporates had failed to deposit the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) amount deducted from the employees salaries and by obtaining a stay from courts they staved off enforcement, he regretted and said this was ''plain cheating'' with the approval of the judiciary.

Globalisation and liberalisation had widened the chasm between the rich and the poor and a tiny segment of the population, the real beneficiary of the reforms, was consolidating further. In this, the judiciary was also playing a role, favourable to the ruling classes which would be scrutinised at the Bangalore meet, he added.

Stating that preparations were afoot for the December 14 nation-wide general strike against the ''anti-people economic policies'' of the Manmohan Singh government, he said. ''The stir is also to demand that alternative policies should be implemented''.

UNI CR HS KP1643