The Centre of India Trade Union (CITU) held a round table conference on the role of the working class in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and warned that it would be crucial for the future of the workers.
The event held in the city on Friday noted that the BJP government was not only “communal” but “pro-corporate” and the various policies and laws introduced by it in the last 10 years was inimical to the progress and well-being of the working class.
The State president of CITU S. Varalakshmi, said that the country is in the middle of a 7 phase election during which the government is indifferent to the plight of the commoners. While Karnataka was in the grip of an unprecedented drought, there was drinking water scarcity and fodder shortage for animals amidst which the democratic exercise of elections were being held.
She cautioned that the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections will have bearing on the future of the working class and in case the BJP returned to power, it would also signal the end of all rights that were acquired after decades of struggle.
Ms. Varalakshmi said various laws and acts which are pro-corporate bodies and anti-workers have been enunciated and would become a law much to the detriment of the workers.
It was pointed out that though the organised sector had a semblance of protection under various laws though they were being diluted by the BJP, about 90 per cent of the workers employed in the unorganised sector were devoid of any protection or job security.
The corporate bodies had the right to hire and fire while a 12-hour-per-day work schedule was also in the pipeline which would have a negative bearing on the health of the workers, said Ms. Varalakshmi.
The conference took note of many of the promises made by Narendra Modi in the runup to the 2014 elections none of which, the CITU said, were implemented after he became the Prime Minister. Though two crore jobs were promised ever year the reality was that there was no job generation. Job opportunities in the manufacturing sector shrank by 12.85 per cent. Citing a report from a study, the CITU said that between January 2020 and October 2022, 1.4 crore jobs were lost.
CITU passed a set of resolutions seeking measures to reduce prices of essential commodities, withdrawal of farm laws that were inimical to agricultural growth, called for strengthening APMCs, roll back policies to reduce subsidy on agricultural inputs, increase minimum wages for workers to ₹31,000 per month, etc.
Senior members of various left wing organisations including H.R. Seshadri, Jagannath, and others were present.
