Fight within Congress for control of union at shipyard

Ex-Mayor Tony Chammany and Anto Antony, MP, taste defeat

The factional fight within the Congress to gain control of the Cochin Shipyard Employees’ Organisation affiliated to its trade union arm, the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), came to a head with the State president of the union R. Chandrasekharan defeating Anto Antony, MP, by 44 votes in an election held following the orders of a court here.

Former Mayor of Kochi Corporation, Tony Chammany, who contested against John Varghese, for the general secretary post, also went down fighting. He lost by 94 votes. The union is the largest in the shipyard, with 565 members.

Sources in the Congress said that the election, fought between the ‘I’ and the ‘A’ groups, presented an overt manifestation of a bitter fight going on within the Congress to gain control over the trade union.

“Ernakulam being an industrial hub has witnessed healthy contests to positions in our unions within various industrial establishments here. But this was purely on factional lines and comes at a time the party should stay united against the rise of the communal forces,” said a senior party and trade union leader, who also accused top party leaders in the State of fomenting factional fights.

Mr. Chandrasekharan, identified with the ‘I’ group, said while a CSEO member had moved court for ‘election as per the bylaw’ to the union following which the court ordered the same, he hadn’t known that it would be a contest on factional lines.

“Some senior leaders are conspiring to take control of INTUC in the State despite the progress the union has made here over the past few years. At present, we have about 16,40,000 members here,” he said.

Mr. Chammany said he contested as some members of the union had approached him to be a part of it. Mr. Antony, however, said he had not known that there would be a poll to the post. “I had filed my nomination, but didn’t know it would be a contest,” he said, refusing to identify himself with any group.

But sources in INTUC said that factional fight within the Congress spilled over to the INTUC in the wake of the new party president Rahul Gandhi taking a decision to form an All India Unorganised Workers Congress.

“While this has great relevance in other States, especially north Indian states, it is redundant in Kerala, as INTUC has a strong presence in the organised sector as well. We have four registered unions among street vendors, 14 unions among NREGA workers with 4.5 lakh members, 28 unions in the construction sector with 8 lakh members and three unions among restaurant workers with a membership of over 75,000. But there’s a move to snatch away these in the name of Unorganised Workers Congress,” alleged a senior INTUC leader.