Trade unions to strike Dec 14 against privatisation
Nov 20, 2006 - 6:53:23 PM
, Reviewed by: Priya Saxena
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'They (industrial houses) talk of affirmative action, but do not want to initiate any steps voluntarily. As per our information, the number of Dalits in the private sector is negligible,' Pandhe said.
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By Indo Asian News Service,
[RxPG] New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) Trade unions in the country have announced a nationwide strike on Dec 14 to protest the Manmohan Singh government's 'pro-privatisation policies'.
'All major trade unions have decided to observe a one-day nationwide strike in all central and state government offices, banks, insurance companies, defence, steel and coal workers, unorganised sector and others as well on 14 December to protest the pro-privatisation policies of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government,' Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) president M.K. Pandhe said in a BBC Hindi programme.
Pandhe, a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo, accused the Congress-led government of having failed to keep its promises.
'It has failed in bringing legislations for the protection of workers in the unorganised sector and for agriculture workers',' he said. The CPI-M and three other Left parties support the UPA government from outside, but have been severely criticising its economic and foreign policies.
'The government had promised strengthening of the public distribution system (PDS), but we are seeing a steep hike in prices of essential commodities. The UPA government is also going ahead with hundred percent FDI (foreign direct investment) in the retail sector, the trade unions cannot remain a mute spectator to such liberalisation policies,' he said.
Pande criticised the industrial bodies' stance on reservation for the backward classes in private sector saying that they were 'resorting to negative action' on the matter.
He dared private sector companies to come out with the exact figure of how many Dalits were working in their organisation. The strikers will also demand legislation to provide quotas for backward classes in private sector jobs.
'They (industrial houses) talk of affirmative action, but do not want to initiate any steps voluntarily. As per our information, the number of Dalits in the private sector is negligible,' Pandhe said.
'The organisations representing the industry say there are no figures available to show the number of SC, ST and other backward castes people. This is because they never made any effort to find out as they lacked the perspective of their social responsibility and this strengthens our view that the number of weaker sections of society working in private sector is very less,' the CITU chief said.
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