Central Trade Unions and farmers’ organisations on April 28 condemned the Centre’s decision to de-register the All India Postal Employees Union (AIPEU) and the National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE). The postal unions were de-registered for making contributions to the farmers’ protests and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) as well as for buying books from the CPI(M) office in Delhi. The Centre was urged to revoke the decision immediately.
The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said the Bharatiya Postal Employees Association, an affiliate of the RSS’ Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was thoroughly defeated by postal workers in a 2014 referendum and it is not in a situation to improve its performance in the next referendum in 2024.
“NFPE and AIPEU with a glorious legacy of fighting against the British imperialist forces are leading working class struggles against the calculated attempts by the RSS-BJP-led Union government to dismantle public sector postal services and corporatise them. It was natural for these progressive and democratic unions to express solidarity and donate some funds to the legendary farmers’ struggle. The Modi regime’s penchant for helping big corporate houses is creating an objective condition for worker-peasant unity with an unprecedented intensity in independent India,” the AIKS said adding that the method of de-recognising and banning all anti-fascist trade unions was experimented by Hitler and Mussolini in Germany and Italy respectively.
The CITU termed the move as “vindictive anti-trade union action” and “patently draconian” action of the government to “silence the opposition of workers and employees to its destructive and anti-worker policies”.
“The NFPE and AIPEU have been consistently opposing and mobilising employees in the postal sector against the destructive policies of corporatisation and privatisation of the country’s postal services through multi-pronged routes and various forms of trade union actions,” CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said in a statement. “The complaint of paying donation to CITU is frivolous and dubious... In fact, on behalf of the Confederation [of which the NFPE and AIPEU are integral parts], the affiliation fee payable to World Federation of Trade Unions [WFTU] was routed through CITU which is also a fellow affiliate of WFTU. Is paying affiliation fee to WFTU an offence?,” Mr. Sen asked.
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Amarjeet Kaur said there is no illegality or misconduct in participating in internationally accepted solidarity actions. “It is most unfortunate that in a vindictive manner the recognition of a major trade union and federation is withdrawn in a most undemocratic manner. We fail to understand that how a recognised central trade union like the CITU can be branded as a political party. This shows the blatant vindictiveness and bias of the government towards a union which has got an established and verified membership of more than 70%,” she said.
