The Central Executive Committee of DYFI declares its joining in support for the General Strike on September 2-2015

The Central Executive Committee of DYFI declares its joining in support for the General Strike on September 2-2015

The Central Executive Committee of Democratic Youth Federation of India declares its joining in support for the General Strike on September 2, 2015 called by all trade unions in the country demanding withdrawal of anti-labour, pro-corporate amendments in labour laws, withdrawal of land acquisition amendment ordinance, minimum wages not less than Rs. 15,000 per month, same wage and benefits for contract workers at par with regular workers, universalisation of Public Distribution System, banning speculative trade in commodity market, employment generation, enforcement of all basic labour laws, universal social security cover, pension for all, stoppage of FDI in Railways, Insurance and Defense, etc.

The DYFI along with working class and the trade union movement have consistently been resisting the disastrous economic policies that are only favouring big corporates. The resistance movement is getting a wider reach, encompassing all other sections of the society.

The severest impact of the Government policies is manifested by the accentuation of poverty of the mass of the Indian people, ever-spiralling price-rise and the unabated increase in unemployment. Poverty is aggravating, in a big way, and the constantly mounting prices of essential commodities have been putting downward pressure on the livelihood of the mass of the population pushing more and more people into utter miseries.

All these manifestations of the LPG policies-poverty, price-rise and unemployment need to be tackled urgently, if the Government has even the least concern for the sufferings of the people. But, the Modi Government at the centre has engaged in a hot pursuit of the structural adjustment programme, which has nothing to deal with these problems of poverty, price-rise and unemployment. Rather, the thrust and the direction of the Government policies are aimed at making the lives of common people more and more miserable on these fronts.

The unemployment, underemployment and various burning issues attached with contractual employment are on the rise in the country. The labour law amendments already made and several others proposed and pending in different stages are clearly indicating the anti-labour policy direction of the government. It is clear that the contractual, contingent workers sharply increased in the last two decades, precisely coinciding with the period when India went ahead with liberalization policy. According to the data of Annual Survey of Industries for various years, one-third of the organized manufacturing sector workforce is out of the ambit of Industrial Dispute Act requiring no prior permission for retrenchment. Even the regular workers employed in establishments employing less than 100 workers are out of the ambit of law. Thus, if we add the number of regular workers below the employment threshold to the contractual workforce then in 2013-14 the proportion of workers for whom no prior permission from the government was necessary for carrying out separation stood at almost 60 percent of the total workforce. Therefore, with such large proportion of workforce already not in the ambit of labour laws, the government is further easing the norms in favour of the corporate sector. These changes, while strengthening the hands of corporates, would bring along uncertainty and insecurity in the lives of millions of workers.

A ban on recruitment is in place in various PSUs, central government departments, as well as in various state government undertakings. 2.25 Lakh posts are currently lying vacant in Railways. According to the AK Khandelwal Committee Report, one lakh posts are vacant in various Public Sector Banks. All these and agrarian distress make, employment, the basic requirement of youth, a distant dream. The government should reverse its policies on agriculture, uncontrolled imports of agricultural products etc. in order to make farming sustainable and to generate rural employment.

The government at the Centre should immediately come forward and listen the demands and issues raised by trade unions and act accordingly. These are issues having wider social repercussions, not limited within the factory compounds. The DYFI stands hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder with workers of the country in their protest.

Instead of trying to disrupt the unity and destroy the national and social fabric along communal lines Central Government should take note of the mounting resentment among the workers, agricultural labourers, farmers, youth, students and various other sections of the country reflected through series of strike actions. The series of communal conflagrations which the nation continues to witness are not just efforts to communalize the Indian mind, but part of a more diabolic design to divide people united in action against the policies of the government.

DYFI will organize protest marches to a central government office of all the district headquarters in the country on 31st of August 2015 expressing solidarity for the September 2, strike and raising various issues concerning youth-unemployment, existing recruitment ban, issues of contractual employment, demanding rural employment generation by making agriculture a sustainable activity etc. The CEC of DYFI would like to make it clear that if the Central Government does not respond to the burning demands of the workers pressed through the countrywide strike action in a constructive manner, the agitation will escalate further.

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