CITU declines to hold talks with PM on strike
BMS made it clear that if the government did not to respond to the charter of demands by August 30, they too may join in.
The country’s main trade unions are all set to go on a nation-wide strike in protest against the government’s economic policies and labour laws on September 2.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who heads the five-member panel formed by Prime Minister to negotiate with unions on calling off the proposed strike, was holding discussions with a faction within the unions which is not in favour of the strike.
Amidst speculation that Mr Modi held discussions with key trade unions to ask them to call off the strike, trade union leaders dismissed any possibility of holding parleys with Mr Modi and stood firm in their resolve to organise the strike as per schedule.
The trade unions, barring the RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), have called a daylong general strike on September 2 against the government’s “hire and fire” oriented labour laws and have placed before the Centre a 12-point charter of demands seeking minimum index-linked wage of not less than `18,000 per month for unskilled workers, and the assurance of enhanced pension of not less than `3,000 per month for the entire workforce of the country, including workers in the unorganised sector.
CITU general secretary Tapan Sen told this newspaper that there is no question of holding talks with the Prime Minister or with the five-member inter-ministerial panel formed by him. Stating emphatically that the strike is very much on, Mr Sen alleged that the government was trying to “sabotage” the strike and claimed that Mr Jaitley and Mr Dattatreya were holding discussions with a faction within the unions which are not in favour of the strike.