Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) vice-president K. Lakshma Reddy said that all Central Trade Union organisations in a joint memorandum to Union Finance Minister have asked him to stop Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail business, insurance and banking.
During the pre-budget discussions Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had with various groups, the BMS wanted the government not to issue any banking licences to the industrial houses. The memorandum wanted appropriate budget allocation be made for labour and employment considering the huge volume of 47.5 crore workforce. A reasonable cap on emoluments of directors / executives of corporate houses has been sought and a plea was made to fill all vacancies.
The trade unions want remunerative price for agricultural produce, allocation of funds to ensure a minimum pension of Rs. 3,000 under EPS-95, constitution of 7th Pay Commission for government employees, stoppage of disinvestment in PSUs, black money stashed in foreign banks be brought back, and a white paper on post-globalisation period of last two decades be published.
In the wake of globalisation and policies pursued by the successive governments at the Centre and the States, huge job losses have been occurring. The situation in the organised sector is alarming, the trade union leaders opined. The 8 per cent of organised sector labour in 1992 has gradually decreased to 6 in 2011. The traditional vocations in the rural area are disappearing, they observed.
During the current year. production in both agricultural and industrial sectors has gone down relatively and growth rate is also said to be around 5.6 per cent. Whatever growth being talked about is jobless. It is also reported that India, being 8th in global outflow of tainted cash, has lost $123 billion in black money between 2001 and 2010.
