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Venue of Mass Dharna

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MOST IMPORTANT

MAHA DHARNA – VENUE

PARLIAMENT STREET NEW DELHI.
Dear Comrades,
           It is informed that the main venue of Maha Dharna on 9th , 10th & 11th November 2017 to be held by Central Trade Unions & Independent Federations at New Delhi will be Parliament Street , adjacent to Jantar Mantar (Not Jantar  Mantar).
          All comrades of Confederation affiliated Organisations are requested to assemble at Parliament Street at 10 AM where banner of the Confederation will be exhibited.
      M.Krishnan 
Secretary General 
   Confederation 
Mob & WhatsApp : 09447068125.
Email : mkrishnan6854 @ gmail.com

3 Day Relay Dharna in New Delhi

Amendment of the Constitution of AIPEU, Group-C

Local media coverage on the General Body Meeting of AIPEU, Gr-C, Bhubaneswar Division held on 05.11.2017

Mandatory submission of Aadhaar Number to POs by 31.12.2017

Minutes of RJCM Meeting held on 12.10.2017

Revision of monitory limit for reporting the loss / fraud cases to police - reg

Meeting of Labour & Employment Minister with Central Trade Union Organizations on 12 Point Charter of Demands

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment
07-November-2017 21:01 IST
Meeting of Labour & Employment Minister with Central Trade Union Organizations on 12 Point Charter of Demands 
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment(Independent Charge), Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar met the representative of all Central Trade Unions in Shram Shakti Bhawan on 7th November 2017 to discuss the issues raised in 12 Point Charter Demand of CTUOs. The meeting was attended by representatives of major Central Trade Unions including BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC and NFITU as well as Secretary, Labour and Employment Mrs. Sathiyavathy and other the senior officers of the Ministry. 12 Point Charter Demand of CTUOs inter alia raises issues of minimum wages, price rise, unemployment, disinvestment, universal social security, compulsory registration of trade unions, increase in minimum pension under EPFO and strict compliance and enforcement of labour laws. The Minister said that the Government has highest regard for the consultative process and he is committed to uphold it. He referred to the calls for nation-wide demonstrations on 9th-10th and 17th November by the CTUOs and BMS respectively and appealed the Trade Unions to rather engage in the constructive discussions on each of the issue raised by them.

Minister said that the Government and the Ministry of Labour and Employment has consistently and continuously taken pro-labour decisions and initiatives. He talked about initiatives like simultaneous increase in Minimum wages, the provision for National Floor Level Minimum wages in the proposed Labour Code on Wages. The Bonus Amendment Act, the decision to enhance Minimum pension to Rs. 1000/- as well as the other initiatives taken by other Ministries.

Trade Union representatives primarily demanded the Government to address the issues of enhancing Minimum Pension to Rs. 3000/- as well as Minimum Wages. They also talked at length about the issues related to enforcement of labour laws, and social security for unorganized workers including growing contractualization.

A presentation was also made by the Ministry to present an updated status on the 12 demands raised by the CTUOs.

Addressing the Media persons the Minister expressed hope that the talks with the Trade Union Representatives was positive and it was done in a cordial atmosphere. He appealed to the Trade Unions to call off the proposed Dharna. 


SHe-Box Online Complaint Management System for working women to lodge complaints of sexual harassment at workplace

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Women and Child Development

07-November-2017 18:57 IST

SHe-Box Online Complaint Management System for working women to lodge complaints of sexual harassment at workplace launched by Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi 
WCD Minister Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi today launched a comprehensive SHe-Box online complaintManagement System for women working in both public and private organizations to lodge complaints of sexual harassment at workplace. The SHe-Box was launched in New Delhi today to ensure the effective implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (the SH Act), 2013.
The new SHe-Box portal offers the facility of making online complaints of sexual harassment at workplace to all women employees in the country including government and private employees. Those who have already filed a written complaint with the concerned Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) or Local Complaint Committee (LCC) constituted under the SH Act are also eligible to file their complaint through this portal.
Launching the online facility, the WCD Minister, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that this is a historic step since it is probably the first ever time that the government of any country has launched an online portal to receive complaints of sexual harassment at workplace. The government is completely committed to provide a safe and fair environment to working women. It is for this reason that the WCD Ministry has made efforts to make the setting up of Internal Complaint Committees mandatory at all workplaces, the Minister explained. She said that the WCD Ministry has also produced a manual and has organized training programmes for Internal Complaint Committees and in the next significant step, the SHe-Box has been launched to provide platform to aggrieved women to make their complaints directly so that suitable action is taken to redress their grievances. These complaints will be monitored by the WCD Ministry, Smt Maneka Gandhi assured.
SHe-Box portal is an effort to provide speedier remedy to women facing sexual harassment at workplace. Once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the ICC/LCC of the concerned employer. Through this portal, WCD as well as complainant can monitor the progress of inquiry conducted by the ICC/LCC. This is a proactive step taken by MWCD in the wake of the worldwide social media campaign #MeToo, where women have related their experience of facing sexual harassment and abuse. The portal can be accessed at the link given below:
Link to the SHe-Box portal: http://shebox.nic.in/
Users of SHe-Box also have the option of interacting with Ministry of WCD through this portal, with an assured time-bound response. The portal also provides information on 112 institutions empaneled by MWCD to conduct training/workshops on the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace. It also has the option for resource persons and institutions willing to contribute to training on this subject in various organisations to submit their applications. SHe-Box will provide a platform to these empanelled institutes/organisations to share their capacity building activities with the Ministry which in turn will be able to monitor the activities of these institutes/organizations so empanelled from across the country.
The Ministry has published a Handbook and Training Module on the SH Act to provide information about the provisions of the Act in easy to use practical manner. The private organizations are encouraged to customize the Training Module as per their extant service rules and disciplinary procedures prescribed therein.
Ensuring the dignity and safety of women must be first priority for any digital society. Towards realisation of the vision of the Digital India programme, the Ministry is promoting utilisation of information and communication technology to achieve the goal of gender equality and women empowerment. It is an effort to utilise the digital space to enable speedier response to the complaints of women against sexual harassment at workplace.

Circle Office asks SSPOS, Bhubaneswar to submit a report on engagement of Outsourced Postal Agents

Massive Parliament March by Confederation and CTUs on 12 point charter of demands

Participation of NFPE, Odisha Circle in March to Parliament on 11.11.2017

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AIPEU, Group-C, Bhubaneswar salutes our warriors who participated in the march to Parliament on 11.11.2017

Address glitch hits Aadhaar enrolment

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KOLKATA: Debasish Mukherjee, a Tollygunge resident, is at a loss for words. So are several others in his south Kolkata neighbourhood. While filling up the Aadhaar application form, these people had mentioned their address as NSC Bose Road, Kolkata 700040. The circus, err... chaos started when they found that the UIDAI had established them as residents of Circus Avenue, Kolkata 700017. Not surprisingly, none of their unique ID cards made it to their residences.
Tollygunge isn't the only area affected by this glitch. If the number of complaints pouring in at post offices across the city is anything to go by, several areas are reeling under the problem.

While no figures are available yet, Ajit Kumar Gupta, an Aadhaar enrolment agent working at a nationalised bank in Netaji Nagar, admits that an error has crept in somewhere in the system.

"Initially, there wasn't any problem with the enrolment process, but somehow, for fresh applications, wrong addresses are getting captured. In many cases, Regent Park police station area has been captured as Circus Avenue, Bansdroni police station area has become Budge Budge. I have stopped fresh enrolments for now," Gupta said.

Incorrect addresses, however, is not the only problem the UIDAI is faced with. Technical glitches have ensured that family members living under the same roof have been issued Aadhaar numbers with different addresses.

A senior IT sector employee from Netaji Nagar had applied for Aadhaar along with her husband and son in the first week of April.

"Our addresses were, obviously, the same. But I didn't receive my Aadhaar card while they got theirs. On enquiring, I was told that my card had been successfully generated. I checked online to find that I have been established as a Circus Avenue resident. I made a formal complaint with the UIDAI complaint cell. They wrote back saying while I could start using my Aadhaar number, I would need to re-apply to get my address changed."

Debasish Mukherjee said, "I need to travel a lot for work. I don't know how I will find the time to re-apply."

Arundhaty Ghosh, chief postmaster general (West Bengal Circle), said, "We have taken up the address mismatch issue with the UIDAI authorities in Kolkata. Several post offices have also been affected by this issue. The matter is being addressed with utmost urgency."

Ghosh said a postal mismatch can take place for new districts or if post offices are freshly mapped to certain addresses.

An UIDAI spokesperson said, "The Kolkata postal department has informed us about the issue. We have initiated corrective steps to tackle it. Fresh codes have been shared with the postal department. We hope the issue will be resolved soon."

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

IMPORTANT CIRCULAR : Forthcoming Agitational Programmes by NFPE

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NFPE CIRCULAR
National Federation of Postal Employees
1stFloor North Avenue Post Office Building, New Delhi-110 001
Phone: 011.23092771                                                    e-mail: nfpehq@gmail.com
       Mob: 9868819295/9810853981                      website: http://www.nfpe.blogspot.com
  No.PF-01(a)/2017                                                              Dated: 10th November, 2017
CIRCULAR
To
            All General Secretaries / NFPE Office Bearers     
           All Circle Secretaries of NFPE Unions
Dear Comrades,
            The Federal Secretariat meeting of NFPE with available General Secretaries and NFPE office bearers held at NFPE office North Avenue Post Office. Building New Delhi has reviewed the whole situation arisen out of so many policy offensive and attacks unleashed by the Government of India by the way of authorizing  nationalized banks and private banks for doing business of National small savings schemes, making  the IPPB (India Post Payment Bank) as a corporate entity proposal of closure of A.P.S appointment of out sourced Postal Delivery  agents, cancellation of G.D.S membership verification Delay in implementation of  GDS Committee  Report , Amendment in Rectt. rules of P.A. non filling up of vacant posts in all cadres, non implementation of  cadre restructuring  proposals for other categories and non declaration of result of regular membership verification and so many other issues.
            After a detailed and threadbare discussion the Federal Secretaries has reached to a conclusion that it is the need of hour to resist all these policy offensive and attacks by way of struggles and serious agitational  programmes culminating in to indefinite strike.
            The federal secretariat has decided the following programme of action to achieve the demands as mentioned in charter of demands.
1. Two days Relay hunger fast in front of all Divisional offices on 28thand 29th November 2017 (All Employees will wear Black Badges containing demands and will send resolution addressed to Prime – Minister. 
2. Mass Dharna in front of All C.P.M.G offices on 20th December 2017
3. 5 Days Relay Dharna in front of Parliament from 12th to 16thFebruary 2018. (All Circles will participates in Dharna day wise)..
4. After that Indefinite Strike will be declared
CHARTER OF DEMANDS
1. Implementation of positive recommendations of Kamlesh Chandra Committee Report for GDS
2. Membership verification of GDS and declaration of result of regular membership verification.
3. Filling up of all vacant posts in all Cadres of Deptt of Post i.e P.A.S.A, Postmen, Mail guard, mailmen, MTS,MMS Drivers and artisans, P.A CO. P.A. SBCO, Postal Actts and GDS. Drop the move of amendment in P.A. S.A., P.A.CO & P.A. SBCO Recruitment Rules.
4. Implement CSI, and RICT only after providing all required infrastructure including band width and stop harassment , victimization in the name of new schemes   , technology induction, under contributory negligence factor and trade union victimization.
5. Stop out sourcing privatization and Corporatization.
6. Payment of revised wages and arrears to the casual, part time, contingent and daily rated mazdoors as per  6th& 7thCPC  and settle other issues of Casual Laboures.
7. Implement cadre restructuring for left out categories i.e. RMS, MMS, PACO, PASBCO Postmaster Cadre, Postal Actts etc and accept the modifications suggested by federation before implementation of cadre restructuring in Postal Group ‘C’.
8. Withdraw N.P.S (contributory Pension Scheme) Guarantee 50% of last pay drawn as minimum pension.
9. Implement 5 days week in Postal Operative offices.
10.  Stop move of diversion of business of P.O SB Schemes to Banks (Nationalized and Private)
11. Stop move of closure of Army Postal Service.
12. Grant OSA and OTA to RMS staff and special allowances for P.O & R.M.S Accounts.
13. Finalization of Recruitment Rules of AAOS IN Postal Accounts with 40% S.C.F quota as approved by DOPT.
14. Status of Audit to SBCO.
15. Benefit of SDBS to retried GDS employees.
Yours Comradely,
                                                                                                     (R N Parashar)
Secretary General
_________________________________________
RESOLUTION
To
           
            The Hon’ble Prime Minister,
            Government of India,
            New Delhi-110 003
Hon’ble Sir,
            The Postal Employees are very much aggrieved and agitated due to the policy offensives and attacks unleashed on Postal Services and Postal Employees. The genuine demands of Postal, RMS and GDS employees are not being settled by the Postal Administration.
            Being aggrieved  we the Postal Employees _____________________ (Name of Division & Circle) have conducted 2 days relay hunger fast on 28th& 29th November -2017 for settlement of 15 points  charter of demands (Copy enclosed).
            We on behalf of entire Postal employees request you to kindly bestow your personal attention on the problems of Postal employees  and cause suitable  action to settle those problems.
With regards
Yours Sincerely
Signature of all Divisional Secretaries


 _______________________________________________________________________

CIRCLE WISE AND DATE WISE PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME FOR 5 DAYS RELAY DHARNA AT NEW DELHI
FROM 12th TO 16th FEBRUARY-2018
DATE
CIRCLES
QUOTA FOR EACH CIRCLE
REMARKS
12.02.18
Andhra  Pradesh
100
(1) All NFPE Unions Circle Secretaries should convene meetings and allot quota to each union and book the tickets to and fro journey in advance to avoid inconvenience.
(ii) All General Secretaries /NFPE Office bearers and All India leaders of All NFPE unions will remain present all the  days. Respective CHQ will make their arrangements for stay.
Telengana
75
J&K
15
Himachal Pradesh
30
Punjab
50
Delhi
100
13.02.18
Kerala
100
Karnataka
100
Haryana
50
Uttarakhand
30
Rajasthan
100
14.02.18
Tamilnadu
100
Maharashtra
100
Assam
30
North East
15
UP(Eastern)
75
15.02.18
West Bengal
100
Odisha
75
Bihar
75
Jharkhand
50
16.02.18
UP (West)
100
Madhya Pradesh
100
Chhattisgarh
50
Gujarat
100

Circle Union suggests NFPE for certain modifications in Charter of Demands for the forthcoming agitational programmes of NFPE

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No. P3NFPE – Odisha / 05 – 11 / 2017
Dated at Bhubaneswar the 12th  November, 2017
To
Com. R N Parashar
 Secretary General, NFPE
North Avenue Post Office Building
New Delhi -  110001

Sub:- Suggestions for modification in Charter of Demands for the forthcoming agitational programmes of NFPE
Ref.-   NFPE Circular No. PF – 01(a)/2017, dated 10.11.2017

Respected Comrade,
While forwarding the NFPE Circular referred to above to the Divisional Secretaries / Circle Union Office bearers, we are receiving several reactions on the Charter of Demands from grass root level leadership and members as well.

Though the 15 Point Charter of Demands for regular issues affecting the postal employees irrespective of cadre have been finalized by NFPE genuinely, the grass root level leadership (especially our P A cadre) are suggesting some specific issues of the postal employees in particular to be included in the Charter of Demands as follows.

i.              Change of designation on each promotion (LSG/Grade-I, HSG-II/Grade-II and HSG-I/Grade-III). This is a basic requirement apart from pay and promotion. Postal Assistants certainly deserves to leave with a status. The present designations do not suit to the functional needs of the Department. In this context kindly refer the arguments under Para 2.6.4, 2.6.5 and 2.6.6 of the Draft Memorandum of AIPEU, Gr-C, CHQ submitted to 7th CPC. (if considered, Demand No. 7 of NFPE may be modified accordingly)

ii.            Change of Recruitment Rules of Postal Assistants enhancing minimum educational qualification to Graduation instead of +2 / Higher Secondary. (This will facilitate our demand for higher pay for P A cadre in future on the analysis of the Seventh CPC)

iii.           Allowing postmen staff to officiate in vacant P A posts. (Now GDS are authorized to work against vacant departmental posts of Postman / MTS, P As are allowed to work against vacant IP posts, IPs/ASPOs are allowed to work against vacant ASPOs/PS Group-B posts with admissible higher pay. Thus, postmen need not be debarred from getting the chance to work against vacant posts of P As with admissible higher pay.

iv.           Immediate one time absorption of LSG and HSG-II officials in HSG-II and HSG-I cadre.

v.            Immediate conversion of all single-handed S Os to double handed in the changed scenario of FSI / CSI.

vi.           No meeting / mela / workshop / seminar on Sundays and Govt. Holidays. (All the orders issued earlier in this regard instructs not to hold such meeting / mela / workshop / seminar frequently for which the administration has got the scope for conducting on several Sundays/Holidays  with a reply that they are not conducting frequently). 

Hope, NFPE CHQ will reexamine inclusion of the above demands in the charter.

With regards.
Comradely yours,

 (B SAMAL)
Circle Secretary

India: National Trade Union Mobilisation Underway

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The three ITUC member organisations in India, INTUC, HMS and SEWA are taking part in a nationwide mobilisation to protest at the government’s anti-worker policies and refusal to engage in serious dialogue with the trade union movement. The mobilisation started today with a three-day manifestation outside the national Parliament in Delhi, and involves all the main trade union centres of the country, with the exception of the BMS which is linked to the ruling party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said “the international trade union movement stands in full solidarity with our Indian colleagues, who are calling for employment policies and laws which support India’s working people instead of simply enriching the elite in India and foreign companies. The ITUC calls on the Indian government to commit to genuine dialogue, and to adopt policies which support working people and would lift millions out of poverty.”

Government attempts to exclude the INTUC from talks were seen by the other trade union federations as a sign of bad faith, and they refused to participate in talks where the government determined who would speak for workers instead of accepting that workers themselves should decide who speaks on their behalf. Discussions which had taken place showed that the Modi government was not prepared to listen to the trade union movement’s real concerns, leaving them no option but to launch a massive national mobilisation.
Source : https://www.ituc-csi.org/

Revised Order issued by the Directorate as per discussion with the staff side on 02.08.2017 regarding Cadre Restructuring of Group-C employees in Department of Posts

Big scam in recruitment of postmen in Maharashtra unearthed

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MUMBAI: The vigilance department of the Department of Posts has unearthed a mega scam in recruitment for over 2,400 vacancies, in Maharashtra. The Mumbai police registered an FIR in August against Manipal Technologies Ltd (MTL), which had won a bid in 2015 to conduct the recruitment process for postmen, mail guards and other staffers in the postal department.
The FIR was filed on the basis of a complaint by an assistant post master general in Mumbai and names P V Mallya and other directors of MTL. Dubbing it a big scam, Justice A M Badar of the Bombay high court refused to grant pre-arrest bail to Mallya on November 3.

He said, "The case in hand appears to be a case of a big scam in recruitment in the department of posts... Selection to public employment has to be a fair and impartial process, based on merit of eligible candidates... This job was entrusted by DoP with utmost trust on the company... Prima facie, it is seen that, the company has breached the trust reposed by it and had shown nepotism and partiality in selecting candidates for obvious reasons.''

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) said that the selection process had been cancelled in Maharashtra. No one has been arrested so far. Police are interrogating the project managers from the company which was in charge of the recruitment process.

The exam was conducted in March 2015 and the results were declared in March 2016. It was held to fill in 1,680 posts of postmen, 21 mail guards and 733 multitask servants (MTS).

The chief postmaster general had ordered a vigilance enquiry when an Amravati postmaster first complained last April that a postman selected through the recruitment process had a photograph of a different candidate on his online application form.

The vigilance report said that 25 of the 194 postmen posted in Maharashtra scored high in Marathi, but didn't know the language and over 70 candidates were found with identical email addresses.

Few of the selected candidates had not appeared for the exam, others had not signed the paper or their signatures online and on the answer paper differed; addresses of some candidates were identical, and cell phone numbers were the same for some, said the vigilance report.

Of the 24 selected as postmen,12 had identical cell phone numbers; of 21 selected as MTS, 11 did. Candidates selected from states other than Maharashtra, such as Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, had addresses from a same locality, said the FIR.
Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Donate Rs 200 each for Flag Day, DoPT tells govt staff

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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 13
With Armed Forces Flag Day being round the corner, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued an advisory to all Central ministries and departments directing that all government employees donate a minimum of Rs 200 out of their salaries for the month of November.

The Flag Day fund, generated out of donations from citizens, is a major source of funding for welfare and rehabilitation of war widows, ex-servicemen and dependants.  

The Department of Personnel and Training  advisory stems from an appeal from the Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare in this regard. December 7 is observed as the Armed Forces Flag Day to commemorate the sacrifices of men in uniform. 

Last year, Rs 58.84 lakh were collected, a marginal dip over Rs 59.85 lakh collected in 2015, according to the Ministry of Defence figures. The fund has a corpus of about Rs 290 crore and out of the interest earned on this, 7.5 per cent is deposited back in the corpus and the remaining amount is used to fund welfare schemes.

CHANGE THE ANTI - PEOPLE ANTI - WORKER POLICIES OR ELSE THE PEOPLE & WORKERS WILL CHANGE THE GOVT.

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CONFEDERATION NEWS
The unprecedented joint trade union ‘mahapadav’ of workers concluded in the evening of 11th November 2017 with a clarion call to the working class of the country to intensify the struggle against the anti worker, anti people and anti national policies of the BJP led government.
The huge mass of workers who gathered from all over the country and from all sectors of the economy enthusiastically endorsed the unanimous call of the leadership of the joint trade union movement, made in the light of the 8th August 2017 national convention, to prepare for an indefinite country wide general strike if the government does not change tack and heed the voice of the working class. The trade unions decided to chalk out a prolonged course of agitations and actions towards that objective.
The string of actions will start with district level joint conventions to be completed by the first week of January 2018 followed by joint ‘Satyagraha’/ courting of arrest at the district headquarters in the last week of January. The common date for the courting of arrest in all districts in the state will be decided by the joint meeting of the state leadership of the trade unions.
In case of any anti worker measures being announced in the Union Budget, joint protest demonstrations will be held on the same day all over the country. The central trade unions will meet soon after the presentation of the Union Budget and decide upon the next course of action.
Along with this programme, the central trade unions also decided to go into joint industry/ sectoral strike whenever the government takes measures at privatisation. The national federations of scheme workers affiliated to the central trade unions will go on strike before the presentation of the Union Budget on their own demands. The date of the strike will be decided in their joint meeting.
The three days ‘mahapadav’ was significant in many ways. This was the first time that ten central trade unions and independent industrial federations jointly organised dharna in the national capital continuously for three days mobilising tens of thousands of workers on each day. The participation of women workers, not only the scheme workers, but also from other sections like beedi, construction, domestic workers, street vendors, home based workers etc was very huge, particularly on the third day. The participation of young workers was also remarkable.
Another significant feature is the participation of several state level trade unions. Some of them are part of the state level joint trade union platforms in states like Kerala, Telangana etc. In addition around 3000 transport workers, owners cum drivers of trucks etc from different states, who are not affiliated to any central trade union, participated at the initiative of the All India Road Transport Workers’ Federation.
The workers displayed extraordinary resolve to participate in the ‘mahapadav’ overcoming many difficulties. The air pollution in Delhi received wide coverage in the media all over the country. Delhi’s description as a ‘toxic gas chamber’ with a situation of ‘public health emergency’ created scare, particularly among those coming from the southern states. The banning of demonstrations and mobilisations at Jantar Mantar by the National Green Tribunal also raised questions on whether the ‘mahapadav’ will be allowed at all.
Many trains were running inordinately late and several were cancelled. Thousands of workers, including women workers from remote villages who travelled all the way to the nearest railway station had to go back after finding that the train they were to travel was cancelled. Thousands refused to go back despite knowing that their train was late. They just wanted to participate in the ‘mahapadav’ even for a little while. On each of the three days thousands arrived at the venue just as the dharna was about to conclude or after it was adjourned for the day. Around thousand women workers reached Delhi in the night of 11th November!
Attempts were made to create confusion among the workers. The BMS which has deserted the joint trade union movement on the eve of the country wide general strike on 2nd September 2015, the first one after the BJP led Modi government came to power certifying that the government was positive to the demands of the workers, gave a call for a rally in the national capital on 17th November. Rumours were floated that the ‘mahapadav’ has been cancelled. The government, which has been totally ignoring the 12 point charter of demands of the trade unions during the last over two years, called a meeting on 3rd November 2017 sending a notice of less than 48 hours. It did not invite the INTUC, one of the major trade unions and a constituent of the joint movement. When the trade unions protested and refused to attend the meeting unless INTUC was also invited, the government called another meeting but on the same day when three other central trade unions were called to depose before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour in Mumbai. After the trade unions again protested against the casual attitude of the Ministry of Labour, ultimately theo meeting was fixed on the evening of 7th November. But the government had nothing to offer. The trade unions stuck to their programme. The workers brushed aside all these machinations to confuse, divide and disrupt their unity and participated in the ‘mahapadav’ in large numbers.
The discipline displayed by the workers, belonging to different organisations and different states, during the entire duration of the three days’ ‘mahapadav’ was exemplary. Majority of the workers sat throughout the day and showed eagerness to hear the speakers – not less than 30 of them, in three sessions, every day! They responded with enthusiasm whenever a call was given to intensify the struggle.
However all this was of no consequence to the corporate media. The corporate controlled mainstream print and electronic media chose to black out the ‘mahapadav’ and the demands of the workers, the backbone of our economy. All that they could capture was some poor street vendors ‘doing hectic business’ selling shoes and books and the long lines near the public toilets!
But the ‘mahapadav’ and the issues raised by it received wide publicity in the social media and some pro people television channels. Several teams active in the social media talked to the workers and union leaders and uploaded them in the websites.
The struggle and the demands of the workers also received huge support from various organisations within the country as well as from outside. The two major international organisations of the working class, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) sent messages of solidarity. In addition, national trade union organisations from different countries including Greece, Nepal etc expressed solidarity. The joint platform of over 100 kisan organisations and several women’s organisations came out in support of the ‘mahapadav’. 50 eminent personalities including writers, university professors, scientists, researchers, artists and social workers, signed a letter to the Prime Minister demanding that the issues raised by the joint movement of the workers be addressed immediately. There were many more such expressions of support to the struggle of the workers.
The three days ‘mahapadav’ makes one thing certain. Discontent against the policies being pursued by the government is growing among all sections of the working class – unorganised sector workers, organised sector workers, those in the public sector and in the private sector, the scheme workers, contract workers and all others. Even large sections of the middle class employees who have voted for BJP are becoming disillusioned with the government’s policies. It has shown that the workers are ready to fight. What is necessary is to make them aware that alternatives to the disastrous neoliberal policies exist; to make them aware that it is the working class which has to lead the struggle for such an alternative; and create confidence among them that they can do it through their organised strength and by uniting with other sections of toiling people like the peasants and agricultural workers.
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