Much heat and dust; the saga of trade unions

New Delhi, Dec 24 (UNI) Notwithstanding the attempts at marginalisation of the trade union movement in the era of liberalisation and globalisation, the movement made significant headway during the year--the nation-wide successful industrial strike, the enactment of the National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme and the setting up of the Sixt Pay Commission for Central government employees.

On the darker side,the Unorganised Workers Bill, 2004, has yet to see the light of the day and the violation of labour laws by the employers continues without impunity and is widespread.

The Bill, aiming to benefit 90 per cent of the work force, which so far has got a raw deal, has been grounded on several counts. The huge financial cost of the exercise being a major factor. But at the end of it all, it is the lack of political will which stalls such moves. The Bill would provide social security to 370 million people, who live in appalling conditions despite nearly six decades of planning.

The dream of the toiling working class to see all the trade union come together is still a distant one, even as the merger of the World Confederation of Labour and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions rekidled such hopes. The new organisation has been christened as 'International Confderation of Trade Unions'-- the biggest ever merger of trade unions.

Even though the world has become an unhesitant admirer of free markets, the spirit of Karl Marx still rules the hearts of the working class movements all over the world, including India. His dictum 'Workers of the World Unite' is as valid globally as in India.

All said and done the trade unions did succeed in some collective action, including strikes. The wide divergence of political perceptions, linked to class interests that they hold on to, is a biggest stumbling block in the efforts to unify.

Despite the staunch country-wide protests from the Left parties, grassroot movements and NGOs for obstructing the passage on the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Bill and later the Act, opposition continues on several scores. These include the number of such units that have been sanctioned and are to be given approval, fair compensation for the outstees and the misuse of tax sops by the builders.

Inflation is regarded as a tax on the poor and the price rise continued unabted, notwithstanding the official claims that inflation will be capped at five per cent. The real wages of the workers eroded and the man on the street could not understand that the jargon of the official pundits that prices were to be ket moderate. A part of the explanation lies in the fact that policy makers quote the Whole Sale Price Index, while waht matters to the ordinary people is the retail price.

The working class did not buy the argument of Finance Minister P Chidambaram that moderate inflation was an inevtiable price of rapid growth, nor understood where the more eight per cent growth was taking place nor whom was it benefitting. He stood where he was.

But he knew that the rich were getting richer, inequalities were growing and the government was only paying a lip service to the poor.

Besides, the booming SENSEX, which the government paraded as the sucess of the India growth story, made little sense to a man who had not money to invest.

The Government continuously harped on the huge investments it was making on social sectors and the schemes it had launched in this regard. These included the Rs 50,000 crore Bharat Nirman Programme aimed at building rural infrastructure, the Urban Renwal Mission, the Rural Health Mission and the Sar Siksha Abhiyan for huge enrollment in primary education. In the absence of any Institutional Reform, experts wondered how much will actually filter to the marginalsied lot.

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