Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh stir in August

The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), which has stayed away from strike calls under the National Democratic Alliance, warned the government of a nationwide strike if its demands are not met by August this year.

The union marked its protest against the Centre’s decision to liberalise foreign direct investment (FDI) norms to “exploit cheap labour” in India and allow “outright sale of PSUs,” at its office bearers meeting held on June 23-24. The BMS said the government was coming out with “one-sided labour reforms” every day, and a final call on the strike would be taken at its central executive committee meeting in Bhopal from August 12 to 14.

“Government has shown least respect towards the promises it has given in writing on August, 28 2015, on the joint charter of demands,” BMS said in its resolution.

‘Anti-worker reforms’ The resolution stated that union opposed the “repeated aggressions” on EPF [employees’ provident fund], “anti-worker” reforms, textile policy, NITI Ayog recommendations on public sector units and inviting FDI offering to “exploit the cheap labour in India.”

“All these shows that the government is openly identifying itself with the big industrial houses and proposes a paradigm of “industrial progress at the cost of withdrawing worker’s welfare,” it added.

BMS said it had “left with the option of resorting to agitation” as it is “totally unhappy” with the poor performance of the government in the labour sector.

In August last year, the government had assured central trade unions, including the BMS, which had given a strike call for a one-day nationwide strike a month later, that their demands would be fulfilled. Based on a written assurance, BMS had pulled out of the strike action, targeting the government’s labour law policies, at the last moment.

Earlier this year, 10 central trade unions, barring BMS, had given a call to go on a nationwide strike on September 2 this year, too against the government’s labour policies.