All the major trade unions have summarily rejected the Labour Minister, Mr. R.K. Khadilkar’s plea for “a seven-day week in order to step up production in the country.” Commenting on the Labour Minister’s suggestion, the trade union leaders including Mr. Satish Loomba, Secretary of the All-India Trade Union Congress, Mr. P. Ramamurthy of the Centre of Indian Trade Union and Mr. Priya Gupta, General Secretary of All-India Railwaymen Federation, declared that they could not be a “party to any action of the Government aimed at curtailing workers’ rights.” “All such attempts, if made, would be resisted,” they said. Although the Indian National Trade Union Congress President, Mr. B. Bhagwati M.P., is out of India, one of its spokesman interpreted Mr. Khadilkar’s suggestion as industry working for seven days, which presupposed more production and more employment. It did not mean the same worker reporting for duty on all the seven days, he added. Mr. Loomba, however, said the workers could not agree for a seven-day week. The AITUC leader said the production could be boosted by utilising the idle capacity available in the industry. Curtailing the workers’ rights would unnecessarily result in disputes and loss of production, he said. Mr. P. Ramamurthy felt that workers would not accept this position.
