Editorial May 2015

 EDITORIAL               MAY 2015 Thota Hanumaiah                                                                                      Chief Editor  

                              

                               

                                  MAY DAY    2015

The AILRSA, on this international day of working class solidarity and unity, extends revolutionary greetings to the working class and toiling people of the entire world and expresses solidarity to their struggles against all sorts of exploitation faced by them.

In spite of tall claims that the global economy is on recovery path from its crisis, there has been no respite for the workers and the common people.  On the other hand ,the burdens of the global  economic  crisis are being passed on to the common people across the world by subjecting them to various curbs of labour rights, cuts in jobs, wages, pensions, health care, and other benefits. Unemployment, among youth and in particular among educated youth has been on the rise to an infinite proportion. At the same time huge concessions and tax exemptions are being doled out, at the cost of people, to the corporates and financial institutions which are actually responsible for the crisis.

Now the country,  under the NDA Government led by BJP at the centre, is witnessing an all round attack on the  rights of the workers and  rights of the farmers; attack on wages and livelihood of the working people who create the wealth of the nation and also attack on remunerative prices for the farmers who produces food for the people; attack on social security right by doing away with the employees provident fund scheme and diverting a part of the fund for speculation in share market, doing away with ESI by converting the same into a insurance scheme under IRDA; drastic cut on social sector expenditure and allocation on welfare schemes like, Mid-day-meal, MNREGA etc., with the motive of finally doing away with such pro-people schemes and programmes altogether. The union Budget  for the year2015-16  has unleashed the  most Hammer Blow onslaught on the common people, both in cities and villages, in industries, services and agriculture with deceptive propagation of  development, investment and employment generation which never  materializes  and  further  results in  aggravated  looting  of the people and country’s resources and  also the exchequers, both by  the domestic and foreign corporate and big-business lobby.

The Government, not being content with budgetary onslaught on the people, has resorted to a severe attack on the natural resources and national assets of the country through ordinance raj. In the result, ordinances have been promulgated for denationalization of coal-mining sector, deregulation of the other mineral resources through auction route without showing any concern to the livelihood and rights of the local and tribal population, forest dwellers and labour-rights of the miners. Privatization and deregulation of the Insurance sector, and also changing the Land Acquisition Act to grab land from farmers without consent in favour of corporate and big business lobby. Onslaught of privatisation and disinvestment of public sector units, vital infrastructure and public utility services is going on in full swing. Major ports of the country are being corporatized to pave the way for privatisation. The entire modus operandi of the Government at the centre in pushing through these so called reforms-exercises, are an open insult to the democratic processes, institutions and structures and constitutes a serious threat striking at the very roots of the democracy altogether.

An aggressive exercise has been going on to completely alter the existing labour laws like Factories Act, Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, Minimum wages act and other wages related legislations etc in favour of the employers with the ultimate aim of pushing out the vast majority of the country’s workforce from the legal protection and purview of all labour laws and to completely dismantle the entire labour-law-enforcement machinery. Never before, the working people of the country, who create GDP for the nations, generate resource for the national exchequer and also produce profit for the employers are faced with such heinous, atrocious all round attacks on their rights, lives and livelihood. The central trade unions have opposed the Industrial Relations Code Bill 2015.

Along with such overhauling exercise on labour laws in favour of their masters in the capitalist lobby, the Govts of the day both at the centre and the states have been directly patronizing the ongoing attacks on the workers in various workplaces through mass scale contractorisation, non-payment of statutory minimum wages and social security benefits, lock-outs, closures, retrenchment and atrocities in various other forms, none of which cannot stand the test of law. When the Govt has been shouting from roof tops on its promises on employment generations, workers in numerous establishments including MNCs, IT sector mostly in the age-group of 25 to 40 years have been losing jobs in several thousands as being witnessed in Nokia, TCS, etc. The real employment scenario in the country is that, more people are losing jobs than new opportunities created; regular workers are replaced by casual and temporary workers with working conditions of virtual slavery.

Therefore it is high time that the anti people policies and actions of the Government resulting in loot of nation and imposition of slavery on the people must be resisted resolutely by the united working class movement to save the workers, save the people and save the country. Already joint actions including strikes have taken place in various sectors like coal, banks, insurance etc. Joint struggles including strikes have been planned in many other sectors including road transport, construction, BSNL and postal-services in the coming months.  The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions have already demonstrated their united opposition through observance of protest day on 5th December 2014 and mass countrywide Satyagraha and court arrest on 26th February 2015.The central Government employees organisations have conducted a massive rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 28-04-2015, demanding settlement of 10 point charter of demands. They have also decided to commence the indefinite strike action from 23-11-2015 from 06:00 am. The AILRSA has conducted a mass rally from Ambedkar Bhavan to Jantar Mantar and held huge Dharna before the Parliament demanding withdrawal of 100% FDI in Railways & defence,  restoration of old pension scheme by withdrawing the New pension scheme, implementation of SPAD directives duly deleting the SPAD cases from the list of minimum punishments, Reclassification of Loco men as INTENSIVE category under HOER as ordered by the Ministry of Labour, Government of India, Enhancement of pay & allowances of Loco men, and strongly protesting against the attempt of  the Government to privatise the Indian Railways in the fields of production, maintenance and even  in the operations, as it is detrimental to the interests of people and safety of the travelling public. The AILRSA has also demanded the Government to reject the interim report of the Railway restructuring committee headed by Shri. Bibek Debroy and to ensure that the Railways remain as a Government department in the service of public utility and not to destroy it. The AILRSA has decided to extend its support to the call for indefinite strike by the Railwaymen and other central Government employee’s organisations, in the month of November, 2015.

Appeal:

The AILRSA appeals to the Loco men, Railwaymen and the working class of our country as a whole:        

(a)  To build and strengthen the working class unity at the grass root level for a relentless struggle to defeat the anti people and anti working class policies of the Government.

 (b)   To develop solidarity across industries, sectors and states to defeat the attacks on their rights, on their livelihoods and lives.

(c)   To be vigilant against any attempts from any quarter to divide the working class and disrupt its unity in any manner be it in the name of Religion, Caste, Community, and language, Territory or Gender. The Unity and struggle are weapons in our Armoury to fight against oppression and exploitation. Guard them to Guard you.

 REMEMBER, UNITED WE STAND AND DEVIDED WE FALL.

Long Live International Solidarity of the Working Class.      Workers of the World Unite.
Unite Against Exploitation and Oppression.                          Down with Capitalism and Imperialism.

                                                             Thota Hanumaiah