TUs refuse to withdraw Sept 2 nationwide strike

Central trade union leaders on Wednesday refused to withdraw their nationwide strike call 

for September 2 to protest against proposed labour reforms, as their meeting with a group of ministers, failed to make any headway.

The ministers’ group, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will meet the union leaders again on Thursday to deliberate on the 12-points charter of demands put forth by the unions.

Speaking to reporters after a two-hour-long meeting with the union leaders, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said “there are 7-8 demands which are agreeable and the discussion on the labour is an ongoing process and the government is positive about the demands (of labour unions).” 

The meeting will now “take place tomorrow as there is also a Cabinet meeting today”, he added. 

The union leaders, however, said the government is not offering any concrete assurance on their charter of demands and their call for September 2 strike stands.

“They have not offered any concrete assurance regarding our 12-points charter of demands. They are trying to mislead people by saying that <g data-gr-id="37">in-principle</g> they agree with our demands. 

“There is no meaning of <g data-gr-id="42">in-principle</g> agreement,” All India Trade Union Congress Secretary D L Sachdev said after the meeting.

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) President A K Padmanabhan, who also attended the meeting, said, “The call for the strike stands as of now because there is no concrete assurance from the government in today’s meeting.” 

“We agreed to come tomorrow for meeting because we don’t want to leave the table otherwise they will blame us for not discussing the issues. There is no agreement on any issue so far,” 

he added.

Trade unions and the government are at loggerheads over a 12-point charter of demands and labour reforms ever since the new government took over.

The government had set up the high-level inter-ministerial committee to evolve a consensus on labour reforms and other issues in May but the panel failed to make any substantive headway in its first meeting on July 19.

Trade unions' 12-point charter of demands includes urgent measures to contain price rise, contain unemployment, strict enforcement of basic labour laws, Universal Social Security Cover for all workers and minimum wage of Rs 15,000 per month.

They are also demanding enhanced pension for workers, stoppage of disinvestment in PSUs, stoppage of <g data-gr-id="39">contractorisation</g>, removal of ceiling on bonus and provident fund, compulsory registration of trade unions within 45 days, no amendment to labour laws unilaterally, stopping of FDI in Railways, Defence etc.

Other members of the panel who attended the meeting include Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh.