On the occasion of the 127th anniversary of May Day the IFTU calls upon the working class to continue the tradition of struggle for realizing the dream of Chicago martyrs, who fought for ending exploitation by capital and ushering in a just society.
The socio-economic system in the country is closely tied to foreign capital and the policies that are being implemented are those that were prescribed by international financial agencies such as the World Bank and IMF. It is these policies that have greatly impacted upon the lives of the workers with growing contractualization of labour in the various sectors of the economy. In the last twenty five years, there has been a drastic reduction in the number of regular workers on the one hand and manifold rise in the number of workers employed on contract basis. In both the industrial and service sectors, public and private sectors, the growth in the number of contract workers is a feature that is of serious import. These contract workers have no job security and can be thrown out at the whims and fancies of the managements. While they perform the same duties as that of regular workers, they are not paid wages on par with the wages of regular workers.
During the British colonial rule and after 1947 several labour laws were enacted ostensibly for benefitting the workers. The various struggles by the workers forced the rulers to enact these laws. But even today they remain on paper and are rarely implemented. The various managements violate labour laws with impunity and thereby deny the workers their rights while the enforcement agency does not take any measures to get the labour laws implemented. While the state labour laws enforcement agencies are empowered to take punitive actions against erring managements, they openly declare that will not prosecute such managements. Since a huge majority of the workforce in the country is engaged in the unorganized sectors of the economy, non-implementation of labour laws has become a serious issue warranting concerted efforts by workers unions to get them implemented.
In both the industrial and service sectors women workers are engaged and they are subjected to various forms of discrimination. From the beedi industry, pharma industry and electronic units to the IT sector there are women workers who work under insecure conditions and often become victims of abuse and harassment. Commuting to the workplace and getting back home for many has become a nightmare with several instances of sexual intimidation. While there is a rule to provide security to women workers this is never implemented by the managements and the government agencies.
The National Committee of IFTU calls upon the working class on the occasion of May Day to struggle for the realization of the demands.
Regularize Contract Workers
Implement Labour Laws
Provide Security to Women Workers