AICCTU

Frontline leader of the CPIML movement, former member of the Polit Bureau, former Bihar State Secretary and popular Marxist teacher Comrade Ramjatan Sharma passed away at the Indira Gandhi Heart Institute in Patna on 6 June 2021 after a heart attack.

Comrade Lakshmanbhai Patanwadia, a senior Communist leader from Gujarat, a member of CPI-ML State leading team and AICCTU Central Working Committee, passed away on 4th May 2021 at a hospital in Ahmedabad. Three days ago, he tested positive for Covid and was undergoing treatment at the hospital since then.

Comrade Patanwadia was a strong voice in Gujarat against communal fascism. His demise is an irreparable loss to the revolutionary people's movement and the trade union movement in Gujarat.

Long live Comrade Lakshmanbhai Patanwadia!

Demand Day organized across Jharkhand

AICCTU organized a one-day dharna (sit-in) across Jharkhand on 18 May to demand resolution of problems faced by daily wagers and Corona frontline workers during Covid pandemic. AICCTU leaders and activists held dharna at the AICCTU office in Ranchi following all Covid protocols.

AICCTU Karnataka Releases Report on Workers in the Second Wave

On 18th May, 2021, the AICCTU released its report, which was brought out in collaboration with the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU) and the Domestic Workers Rights Union  – “Workers in the Second Wave – The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on local and migrant workers in Bengaluru”. It highlighted the manner in which the working class and economically weaker sections are battling not only to save their lives, but struggling to secure livelihoods.

May Day Observance at tea garden

Braving thunderstorm and rains, nearly 100 workers assembled at Dipa Line of Sachindra Chandra Tea Estate in Khoribari, Darjeeling district to observe historic May Day.

May Day Protests

May Day Demonstrations of workers of AICCTU affiliated unions were held in major towns and mandal (block) headquarters of Anantapur, Kadapa, Kurnool, Guntoor, Krishna, East Godavari, Vizag and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh and Janagaon, Hyderabad districts of Telangana under. Workers from various sectors - Construction, Hospital Sanitation, Anganwadi, Auto union, School sanitation and MDM workers – hoisted the flags and joined May Day protest with firm resolve to scrap anti worker labour codes and anti-farmer Farm laws, observing Covid protocols.

May Day 2021

AICCTU cadres observed May day throughout Tamil Nadu by hoisting flags in offices, factories and localities despite the code of conduct was in force in view of counting of votes on 2nd May. The state secretary of CPI ML also wrote a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer of the state to allow May day events without any hindrance. Other left parties also wrote similar letters in this connection.

Almost one crore scheme workers all over the country shoulder the burden of implementing several important public schemes of the central government on health and education. They include ASHA workers (working under National Rural Health Mission program), Anganvadi workers (working under ICDS program) and MDM workers (working under Mid Day Meal scheme for school children). Almost 95% of the scheme workers in the country are women. These scheme workers are the backbone in ensuring basic health and nutrition to vast majority of the country’s population.

With an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths during the 2nd wave of the pandemic, the country is facing an inordinate stress on crematoriums and cemeteries for disposal of the dead. We continue to hear the news of how local authorities are identifying mass cremation centers to deal with the situation or how electric crematoriums are breaking down due to the load and cities are running out of burial space.

The deadly Covid wave of April-May 2021 hit Delhi very badly after receding in last December. According to official data, infection rate this time was as high as adding 28,395 new cases each day in mid-April. And the death rate was as high as 448 each day in early May.