All India Central Council of Trade Unions
Web Page At: www.aicctu.org
Countrywide protests were organized on 23 July in response to the call given by trade unions against corporatization and privatization of defence sector and ordnance factories and revoking the ordinance banning strikes.
Protest demonstrations and rallies were held in all the states and major centers in the country. A joint protest rally was held in Patna by central trade unions AICCTU, AITUC, CITU, INTUC, AIUTUC and UTUC.
Protest Demanding Pending Wages at RIMS, Srikakulam
As an encouraging development for the struggle of ASHA workers in Uttarakhand state, the ASHA unions led by AICCTU and CITU, major unions in the state, have given a joint call for a prolonged struggle.
Introduction
More than 50 years after the enactment of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 [‘1970 Act’], the Government is seeking to grant statutory sanction to the burgeoning contractualisation across public and private sectors. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 [‘OSH Code’], which consolidates a number of beneficial workers legislations including the 1970 Act, practically authorizes the use of contract labour in a number of core, perennial and necessary functions.
The Policy Shift
The new Labour Codes that will repeal 44 Central legislations enacted from 1923 and thereafter, can be characterized very simply, as a hoax. This note will look at the aspect of far-reaching exemptions included in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 [‘OSH Code’], to show how any benefits provided by the Code are at the mercy of the pro-corporate dispensation.
Exemptions Apparent
Save Industry of Assam Day was observed across Assam on 8 July 2021 to save various industries from closure and privatisation. The special call to observe the Save Industry of Assam Day was issued by Save Industry Save Worker Joint Action Committee (SISW JAC), an independent platform of national trade unions to save paper mills, fertiliser factories, jute mills, tea industries, spinning mills, oil industries, airport and electricity sector.
Forcible Deductions from Pension for CM Relief Fund – Kerala High Court: In Rajan & Anr. V. KSEB & Ors, the High Court of Kerala on 08.07.2021 stated that unauthorized deductions from the pension fund of the petitioners towards contributions to the CM Relief Fund is not permissible unless written consent is taken from the employees.
Steve Gillis is an elected member of the executive board of the Boston School Bus Drivers Union (United Steel Workers/USW Local 8751). He has been a school bus driver for 37 years, elected President of the union for 3 years in 2003, served as Vice President for 6 years and Financial Secretary for the last 6 years.
The recent victory of contract workers of Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing (RAKCON) marks a significant milestone in the history of health workers struggle in Delhi. They won in the midst of the COVID pandemic, against criminal negligence by the central government and defying anti-people laws being passed by the Parliament. On 1st February this year, about 40 contractual employees were fired from RAKCON located in Moolchand, Delhi without any notice. Since then, the employees have been waging a battle against the termination.
(Interview with AICCTU National Secretary and CPIML Karnataka Secretary Clifton D’Rozario, who is also an advocate who has consistently argued Covid-19 and lockdown relief cases in the Karnataka High Court. The interview is reproduced with gratitude from The Third Eye, 18 June 2021)
Can we talk about the Right to Food campaign and the issue of food security as part of public health?