Home > Money > Budget > Budget News & Analysis MARCH 6, 2002 | 14:00 IST    Feedback 


     
Interviews
Business Headlines
Corporate Headlines
Columns


 Portfolio Tracker
 

  My Portfolio

The Union Budget 2001-02
Economic Survey 2000-01
Exim Policy 2001-02
Credit Policy 2001-02
Railway Budget 2001-02
Budget Tutorial
Budget Process
Budget 2000-01
Budget 1999-2000
 



PSU, bank, insurance staff to strike work on April 16

Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi

Thousands of public sector workers belonging to central trade unions and federations of financial sector employees on Wednesday gave a joint call for a countrywide strike in all the central public sector undertakings, banks and insurance sectors on April 16, 2002.

They also pledged to observe March 14 as the National Protest Day.

Staging a protest march to Parliament, where they courted arrest, thousands of trade unionists gathered from all over the country said that the strike call was given to assert the united opposition to the 'disastrous anti-people policies of the Union government in respect of outright sale and divestments of shares of PSUs'.

They also protested against 'downsizing and retrenchment, and the uncalled for closure of sick PSUs', attack on trade union rights with pro-employer changes in labour laws and the burden of heavier tax on the working class and the common people'.

Taking serious note of the government's 'indifferent' attitude towards the trade union movement opposing the sellout the PSUs without any concern for the 'dangerous fallout on the economy' of the country, the workers expressed shock at the government's move to go ahead with the 'selling spree of the blue chip PSUs across the sectors'.

The sick PSUs were being pushed towards closure or distress sale to private hands, while the ongoing mass-scale downsizing and retrenchment exercise was also leading to severe aggravation of joblessness and unemployment, said the unionists.

"The labour-related statutes were being sought to be amended to legitimise the 'hire and fire' policy and total 'contractorisation', without any restriction," they said.

The protesting workers added that the corporate and business lobby has been 'allowed to evade tax payment with impunity and granted huge concessions'.

"The government of the day has been spreading the tax-net downwards to trap even the unskilled workers and making even the basic welfare related fringe benefits taxable," said the protestors, insisting that "the Union Budget has reiterated the continuance of the same disastrous policies with greater vigour."

"As a result of these anti-people and anti-worker policies, which also militate against the interest of the national economy, the country has already slipped down from slowdown into a recession," the workers claimed.

The policy of giving incentives only to multinational companies and big business houses at the cost of the majority of the people has totally failed to bring a turnaround in the economy, said the trade unionists.

Taking strong exception of the 'government's policy to pass the entire burden of the unprecedented economic crisis and the all out recession, on to the working people', the trade unionists asserted that it amounted to 'giving a free hand to corporate domestic and foreign business houses to implement freely the policy of hire and fire'.

The trade unions organisations who participated in the protest included CITU, AITUC, BMS HMS, AICCTU, UTUC-LS, TUCC, UTUC, JAF-Bangalore and Federations of Financial Sector Employees. The trade union organisations were also optimistic about the support of the INTUC by Thursday.

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
The Rediff Budget Special
More Budget Stories
Interviews
Money


 
  © 1996 - 2002 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.