[Reader-list] Fwd: What is Happening in Pricol ? by Deepankar Bhattacharyya, Gen Secretary, CPI(ML)Liberation- An important CORRECTION relating to the AUTHOR

[Venugopalan K M]

Dear friends,
The document posted under this topic was actuallt part of few
documents released to the press by the AICCTU leadership and was not
authored by Deepankar Bhattacharyya.
My sincere apologies for the error.
Venu.



What is Happening in Pricol?



The unfortunate death of the Vice President of the Human Resources
Development Department of Pricol Ltd is regrettable indeed. Coming one
year after the Graziano incident in Greater Noida in which the local
head of an Italian firm had reportedly been beaten to death by sacked
employees, it has evoked a lot of passionate comments and demands from
the corporate world. Even as workers are being arrested in large
numbers and leaders are being framed, employers are demanding a ban on
trade union struggles and sections of the corporate media are
advocating labour reforms to give a completely free hand to employers.



A single day’s tragic incident is now being deliberately sought to be
used to prejudice public opinion against the Pricol workers and
suppress the truth of the nearly one thousand days of their united and
determined struggle. Among other basic things, a key demand of Pricol
workers has been for the recognition of their unions which enjoy the
support of the overwhelming majority of workers while the management
has been constantly pressurizing workers to withdraw from the road of
struggle and sever ties with the ‘Marxist-Leninist’/’Maoist’
leadership.



In this long struggle of Pricol workers, the government of Tamil Nadu
has repeatedly censured the Pricol management. The state government
has issued three advices, passed one government order (GO) prohibiting
the continuance of lockout, passed three GOs ordering references,
passed two orders under section 10B of the Industrial Disputes Act (ID
Act) 1947.



On 30th of July 2009 the state Labour Minister, while replying to a
calling attention motion moved on the floor of the assembly by AIADMK,
PMK, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), catalogued the various unfair labour
practices indulged in by Pricol Ltd, and stated that the workers had
given up their indefinite fast which had been continuing for the 15th
day as their demands were accepted by the government.  He further
assured that the government would not let the workers down.



Have things completely changed in a few months and more particularly
on a single day with the unfortunate death of an executive? In the
heat and passion generated by this tragic incident, can we allow
rational reasoning to become a casualty?



Mr George's Unfortunate Death was Neither Preplanned Nor the Result of
Conspiracy



Mr Kumarasami addressed the general body meeting and one office
bearers' meeting on 19 and 20 September 2009.  As a practising labour
lawyer in the Madras High Court for nearly three decades and AICCTU's
national and state president, he is conducting all the Pricol cases in
Madras High Court as well as the Supreme Court.  Going to Coimbatore
basically to reassure the workers not to worry about the delay, as the
Pricol case would be coming up for hearing on the 29th of September
before the Madras High Court,  he categorically cautioned the workers
not to get provoked by any vindictive action of the management. He
also proposed a padayatra from Coimbatore to Chennai to highlight the
demand for a trade union recognition Act and several other burning
issues of the toiling people. It was also planned to celebrate the
1000th day of the struggle to positively counter the frustration being
caused by the delay in legal struggles and the recalcitrant attitude
of the management.



Can by any stretch of the imagination these proposals to impart a
stronger mass political dimension to the protracted struggle of Pricol
workers be construed to be part of any conspiracy, ‘Maoist’ or
otherwise?



In this connection it would not be out of place to remember that just
the other day, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways called his pilots who
formed a union 'terrorists'.  And he withdrew the terrorist label and
embraced them as prodigal sons as soon as they returned to work,
leaving aside the issue of union for the time being.



It Will Be Better If the TN Police Consults the TN Labour Department
on Pricol Ltd:



Pricol’s track record in the arena of industrial relations has been
notorious. Rampant violation of labour laws, court verdicts and
government orders has been the trademark of the Pricol management.



·There are vindictive transfers.

·There is refusal to engage in collective bargaining in good faith
with the majority union.

·There are illegal partial lockouts.

·There are break-in-service orders.

·There are stoppages of increments.

·More than 1000 employees are terminated.

·There is illegal deduction of wages and incentives running into
crores of rupees.

·The management has promised to pay all these withheld dues if the
workers leave the unions.

·There is employment of apprentices and contract labour contrary to
certified standing orders and the Contract Labour (Abolition and
Regulation) Act, 1970.

·Now there is the recent dismissal of 44 workers without any domestic enquiry.



In almost all these issues the state government has intervened under
sections 10 (1), 10(3) and 10 B of the ID act 1947.



In fact Comrade Kumarasami was trying to get the Labour Minister
convene a meeting at the earliest to resolve the simmering discontent
and this fact is known to the Labour Department.



The management does not want Comrade Kumarasami to defend the Pricol
workers in the High Court as well as the Supreme Court on the 29th of
September and other subsequent dates. This is the main reason for
implicating Comrade Kumarasami, the national president of a centrally
recognised trade union.



Respect Industrial Democracy, Stop Witch Hunt Against Pricol Workers

If lawyers and TU leaders who defend and guide the workers are framed
in conspiracy cases as during British days, the government will only
be sending a loud message: “No healthy, strong collective bargaining
will be allowed. Industrial relations are back to the pre-1926
colonial days."



Should we allow the unfortunate death of Mr. George to be turned into
a weapon for witch-hunt of workers and suppression of trade union
rights – instead of treating it as a poignant issue for remedial
action? Let the unfortunate incident motivate all parties to take
remedial measures that will

help resolve the real underlying issues.



With the Trade Unions Act coming into force from 1926, the country had
gradually moved away from lawlessness to the rule of law by
instituting a system of collective bargaining.  If employers like
Pricol Ltd. are allowed to violate the law and make use of an
unfortunate death to go in for a witch-hunt, implicating leaders in
false cases, and suppressing basic trade union rights, will that not
be only sending out the message that there is no place for laws and
effective trade unions in independent India in the days of
globalisation?



TN government and central government should not act on the basis of
one-sided corporate hue and cry. TN government should come to the aid
of Pricol workers, their families and their leaders, as it has
promised on the floor of the assembly.  We appeal to all trade unions
and progressive and democratic sections of society who believe in the
dignity of labour and rights of workers to support the struggle of
Pricol workers and express solidarity by calling upon the TN
government to stop the ongoing witch hunt and force the arbitrary
Pricol management to respect industrial democracy and implement
government orders.

- Deepankar Bhattacharyya



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You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot
build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you
will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a
whole.
-AMBEDKAR



http://venukm.blogspot.com

http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur

http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com



-- 



You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot
build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you
will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a
whole.
-AMBEDKAR



http://venukm.blogspot.com

http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur

http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com