The Hindu : Invite all unions for talks, CITU urges Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 23, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Invite all unions for talks, CITU urges Govt.

By S. Dorairaj

MADURAI JUNE 22 . The CITU has urged the State Government not to spare any effort in ensuring that the genuine demands of its employees and teachers are settled through talks with a view to averting their proposed indefinite strike, scheduled to commence on July 2.

Reacting to reports that the Government had invited the Employees Union (C and D) for talks, the assistant secretary of the CITU State unit, A.K. Padmanabhan, told The Hindu here today that the talks would be fruitful only if all outfits including the JACTTEO-GEO and COTA-GEO, which had declared their intention to go on strike demanding restoration of their existing rights and benefits, were invited to participate in the negotiations.

The strike would create a "very serious situation" in the State. As the employees and teachers had already observed a token strike on April 10 and launched a picketing programme defying the Essential Services Maintenance Act, the Government should realise that the agitation could not be "scuttled through Draconian measures," that too when the struggle had entered an entirely new phase, he said.

Claiming that barring the ruling party's Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai, all major trade unions including the CITU, the AITUC, the HMS and the LPF had favoured an early settlement of the issue through negotiations, he said the "undemocratic and anti-worker policy" of the Government had been the only hurdle.

The major unions should continue with their efforts to expose the dangers involved in dividing the workers on caste and community lines, even while taking up issues affecting the oppressed sections in certain areas, he said.

Admitting that the trade unions' role on the child labour front was inadequate, he said it was not correct to say that they were not at all interested in taking up the issue. The trade unions had their own limitations. The CITU felt that it was a social issue with parental poverty being a major contributing factor. A situation, where agriculture was in the doldrums, the industry was going sick and people were thrown out of jobs, provided a fertile ground for the growth of child labour.

Mr. Padmanabhan alleged that the industrial sector was in a total crisis with the total volume of trade having come down due to closure of textile, engineering and SSI units in various parts of the State. He flayed the Government decision to introduce VRS in eight cooperative textile mills in the first phase, and the sale of all 16 cooperative sugar mills. Such measures could be resisted only through a united struggle by the working people, he said.

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