The Centre reconstituted the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) by excluding representatives of the Opposition trade unions INTUC, AITUC and AIUTUC from the panel. All India Manufacturers Association, an organisation of employers started by legendary engineer M. Visvesvaraya in 1941, also couldn’t find a place in the new panel. Laghu Udyog Bharti, an organisation of employers supported by the RSS, has managed to send two members to the panel, as per the notification released by the Union Labour Ministry on Saturday.
The new panel will get a five-year tenure in the post. Both the employees and the employers have ten representatives each in the panel, apart from representatives of the Union and State Labour departments. Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav is the Chairman of the CBT.
Expressing surprise at the exclusion, INTUC president G. Sanjeeva Reddy said the Centre has done them an injustice. “We represent millions of workers. By excluding us, the Centre has excluded workers,” he said.
In the outgoing panel, three posts had been kept vacant for the INTUC. The Centre has been claiming that INTUC is not included in government panels as there are several different groups claiming leadership over it.
The AITUC, one of the oldest trade unions in the country, has decided to raise its protests with Mr. Yadav. “We were the second biggest trade union after INTUC according to the 2002 referendum of unions. We have strong protests in this action and we will raise it with the Minister,” said Sukumar Damle, a member representing AITUC in the outgoing CBT.
The CITU too protested the exclusion of the three unions. “The BJP government has consistently weakened the tripartite mechanism and this move is yet another example of it. We oppose the exclusion of INTUC, AITUC and AIUTUC from the panel,” said senior CITU leader and member of the outgoing CBT A.K. Padmanabhan.
Government sources indicated that the selection of members was done after consultation with the trade unions. Each trade union was asked to send three names to be included in the CBT. Ten central trade unions, however, opposed this and said they would send just one name to the government. In the place of INTUC, AITUC and AIUTUC, the Centre has newly inducted to the panel the Trade Union Coordination Centre, Self Employed Women’s Association and the National Front of Indian Trade Unions. The BMS, the trade union of Sangh Parivar, has retained three members in the panel.
The trade unions have also been demanding that the Centre carry out a referendum of central trade unions to know the exact membership of each organisation. The BMS is considered as the largest union at present, followed by the INTUC. HMS and CITU have retained their membership in the CBT.
