: In its first year in power, the BJP Government at the Centre had been successful in being “too friendly” to the Corporates and the multi-national foreign investors, according to A.K. Padmanabhan, national president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.
Road block agitation
He was addressing newsmen here on Sunday before chairing a meeting of the trade union and its affiliated bodies for a State-wide road blockade to be organised on June 9 to condemn the Union and State Governments for their unfriendly labour policies.
According to him the government is trying to attract investments by promoting India as a country with the cheapest labour. “But, a scientific method is required to calculate minimum wage of workers,” he said.
Trade unions have been fighting for reforms in labour laws to protect the workers. “Contrarily, the government is diluting laws only to worsen their condition,” he said.
“We should wait to realise how fruitful foreign tours of the prime minister are,” he said and claimed that not many job opportunities have been created since the present government came to power. Mr. Padmanabhan claimed that the chain of national-level protests organised by various trade unions and government employees and farmers’ suicides are testimony to the unfriendly labour policies.
Eleven central trade unions and various employees federations will jointly organise a meeting in New Delhi on May 26 to discuss the government’s unfriendly labour polices and its implication.
The trade union leader said that there was not much difference when Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party were in power as the Congress did not oppose the insurance bill and the privatisation of coal mines. “Congress is opposing the land bill because people at the grass root level are opposing it,” he said.
