| NEWSNOTES Public Sector Workers to Launch Nationwide Struggles
From India News Network(INN) T he meeting of the Core Group of the Committee of Public Sector Trade Unions (CPSTU) held on yesterday (November 23rd) , at New Delhi expressed serious concern at the hasty steps being taken by the government of India to put the entire public sector network in the country on outright sale. In the name of speeding up disinvestment, what is being done is to sell the shares of blue chip profit making public sector units at discounted prices and thus transfer huge national wealth to private and foreign hands. The shares of GAIL, VSNL and some others have been sold in foreign market even at prices much lower than the prices in the domestic market. The bill for opening the nationalised insurance sector to both foreign and indigenous private sectors has already been tabled in parliament. Nationalised banks have also been targeted for outright privatisation through off-loading of 51 per cent government stake in them and the infamous Verma panel has already drawn the blueprint for the sell out of the so called weaker banks, and for the shedding of at least 25 per cent of the banking workforce and impose wage cut. Besides imposing the mechanism of cross holding of shares between the PSUs, government of India has been desperately sucking the profit making public sector units of their investible surpluses, thus sabotaging their expansion and technological upgradation and weakening them to the heel and making them an easy prey for sale.The government of India has reiterated its resolve not to revive the sick PSUs and its decision to close down 12 sick units; it has also flouted its commitment to BIFR in many other cases. Public sector workers of the sick units have been deprived from the wage revision for long ten years including the enhanced rate of DA. In some cases salaries have not been paid to the employees for the last about one year. Even after three years of expiry of tenure of the previous wage agreements, the new agreements are not even in sight due to the retrograde guidelines of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and particularly the stipulation for 10 years tenure of wage agreements. CPSTU also noted with concern the terms of reference of the Second National Commission on Labour, constituted by ignoring the objections of majority of CTUs, with strict pre-determined stipulations to recommend change in the existing labour legislation’s to ensure atrocious labour flexibility commensurating with World Bank and IMF dictated polices of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. This clearly indicates the game plan to impose conditions of slavery and casualisation of employment on the workers. In totality, the CPSTU noted that, the so-called second generation reforms being carried out by the government aimed at total privatisation of the public sector units, complete deregulation of the financial sector in favour of the foreign capital and demolition of labour rights. Working class along with the patriotic people must resist such design of atrocity and assault on the country’s wealth and sovereignty and on workers’ rights at all cost. In the light of the foregoing understanding of the CPSTU has adopted the following programmes:
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