The pro-corporate policies being implemented by the Union government were detrimental to the interests of the working class and there is a need for a concerted fight against such policies, State secretary of AITUC K. Somashekhar has said.
Inaugurating the maiden district convention of All India Union of Trade Union Congress (AITUC) at Karnatak Vidyavardhakh Sangha in Dharwad on Saturday, Mr. Somashekhar said that multi-national companies had been suppressing the voice of the workers in their run to loot natural resources of the country. Instead of acting against them, the Centre was helping them with pro-corporate policies, he added.
Mr. Somashekhar said that even those in the organised sector and government departments were facing job uncertainty and already, the Centre had initiated several measures towards removing lakhs of employees in various public sector companies. “The motive behind this is to hand over these public sector to the corporates. If multi-national companies take over these public sector companies, then lakhs of workers will be thrown on the streets,” he said.
He said that all the successive governments had been indirectly supporting corporate lobby. “On the one hand, the government says it has no money to pay salaries to its employees, but, on the other, it gives subsidy to corporate companies to expand their operations,” he said.
Pointing out the lack of differences among the trade unions, he said that there was a need for trade unions and also the general public to understand that politicians were using divisive politics to weaken the labour movement. A strong socialist movement as dreamt of by Subhas Chandra Bose was the need of the hour, he said.
District secretary of Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) Ramanjanappa Aldalli said that workers had been taken for granted by the successive governments and they were being duped in the name of honorarium. “If subsidy given to the corporate sector is diverted for public cause, nearly 30 crore jobs can be created in the government sector. Although the corporate companies are a few, they rule 99 % of the population,” he said.
State secretary of ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) Workers Federation D. Nagalakshmi spoke, while district convenor of AIUTUC Gangadhar Badiger presided over the convention. A new district committee was formed with Mr. Gangadhar Badiger as president. A. Bhuvana, Shantha Chauhan, Sharath Nadgouda were named as vice-presidents, Ramesh Hosamani as secretary and Ningamma Hudad was named joint secretary of the district committee.
