Trade unions on Wednesday opposed divestment in public sector undertakings and hike in foreign direct investment in telecom, insurance and aviation sectors, while pitching for restoration of employee provident fund rate at 9.5 per cent and redrafting job guarantee scheme.
In their pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, trade unions also demanded a Sixth Pay Commission for government employees and wage board for various segments of working population, including journalists.
Attacking the United Progressive Alliance government for not adhering to the Common Minimum Programme, they said the National Employment Guarantee bill was neither offering jobs nor guaranteeing it to all those below the poverty line, including the urban poor and women.
"The government is totally bypassing the Common Minimum Budget and the last Budget did not fulfill the promises made in the programme. We want redraft of the national employment guarantee scheme," Left-affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Unions' president M K Pandhe said after the meeting in New Delhi.
RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha's Uday Patwardhan demanded a consultative group for identifying jobs for the employment guarantee scheme.
G Sanjeeva Reddy of Congress-affiliated Indian Trade Union Congress said the government needs to focus on small-scale industries, self-employment schemes to boost employment while suggesting an "unemployment relief" for educated youth and skilled workers.
CITU and BMS demanded 12 per cent interest on employees provident fund or at least restoration of 9.5 per cent offered till the last fiscal compared to the present 8.5 per cent.
