July 17, 2003

JUSTICE FOR WORKFORCE
WHERE IS THE APPLICATION OF MIND

Tamil Nadu is , of course, amidst severe financial crisis. But 'Where is the application of mind” on the part of the Jaylalita-led government ?

The government borrowings and expenditures are rising day by day. The ministers, members of the legislature and the officials at the higher level are spending lavishly, and getting maximum benefits from the exchequer. It the state is undergoing a severe financial crunch, and people are suffering, it is because of their inapplication of wisdom. They do not seem to sacrifice anything personally and expect the employees and the workforce of the state to suffer for the miserable people of the state. It's simply a dichotomy on the part of the leadership. If the heart of the leadership bleeds so much for the downtrodden and the weaker sections of the society, then why is there no programme even for rehabilitation of working children in the state !

These are the people who lead the government, the largest employer of the state. This employer, who gets the benefit of the employees in their productive days or the prime time of their lives, said to the employees that they would not be given even the agreed amount of pensions or other benefits in their old age due to severe financial crisis. Many questions arises here ranging from the ethical to legal point of views.

First of all, there is a humanitarian point of view. A person in his old age can not get work, even if he or she gets work it is not physically possible to do the job without threatening one's existence. One loses the source of salary income at the time of retirement and is compelled to live afterwards on the small pensionary benefits , which in any way is not sufficient for the provisions and medical expenses. India is a welfare county and we are implementing many rehabilitation programmes for the old people. Was is a wisdom to curtail their pensionary benefits in the name of financial crisis, while on the other hand the state is spending much on many non-essential things ? In this way the decision of the Tamil Nadu government to curtail the pensionary benefits is inhuman.

While we judge the issue on ethical point of view, getting benefit from a employee in his prime time, and ditching him or her in her old age can surely be considered as unethical. The use of the word “ditching” seems to be appropriate in the case of the Tamil Nadu government who had earlier agreed to give certain pensionary benefits to the employees when they were in the job, and now refuses to give those agreed benefits to them.

Here, the point to be noted is that the dispute or so-called confrontation was not due to any fresh wage or other demands of the employees but only over retention of their long-existing benefits. The aggrieved employees have a genuine grievance because the State Government has by ordinances increased the pensionary ceiling of the employees by three years, from 30 to 33 years. Also, it decided to provide earned leave encashment for retirees only for 300 days instead of 330 days. The employees were to suffer loss also in other retirement benefits on account of drawing up of a fresh commutation table. retirement benefits.

According to the Preamble of the Constitution of India, our county is a socialist democratic republic. Refusal of the agreed pensionary benefits or ditching an employee in his old age or when he or she is physically not fit for work has been conceived and implemented in many capitalist countries for years. In the history of the world the human civilizations has suffered a lot in the hands of capitalists, feudal lords , autocracies et al. The genuine demands of the workers has been crushed by brute force. But in a socialist welfare state like ours, it is not done.

The way the State government took the unprecedented step of arresting at midnight and summarily dismissing lakhs of employees in a brazen attempt to destroy their morale and crush their indefinite strike has shocked everybody. The severity of the repression resorted to by the Government flouting even minimum norms is a clear cut violation of the fundamental principle of our constitution.

We know about allegations of anti-people policies adopted by the governments and their leaders who are in a habit of living like kings and queens, spending huge amount from the exchequer for their benefits and not for the benefits of the poor fellows of the state. But one is surprised to know when the Chief Minister Jayalalitha dubbed the aggrieved agitating employees as “anti-people”.

Initially she had asked the employees 'not to fall prey to misguidance of anti-people forces' and described the strike call to be 'irresponsible.' However, on June 27, she invited JACTTEO-GEO and COTA-GEO representatives for talks. The negotiations failed because the Government refused to budge on the basic issues although Ms Jayalalithaa claimed that she had made other concessions like payment of full DA and gratuity. She also agreed to release Rs 34 crore of pay arrears. It is well known fact that the State Government was holding up payment of even other dues as well, and was seeking to curb pensionary benefits in addition.

In this backdrop, we cannot say that the employees' demands were unfair and their strike was illegal. Therfore, the state cannot justify the imposition of Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA) 2002 and other ordinances to crush the workforce. Resorting to the lawless laws is not wisdom. The most effective way to deal with the financial crisis would be its better management in such a way that assures the dignity and existence even of the pensioners.

In the present case the Madras High Court by rejecting the petition filed by dismissed Tamil Nadu Government employees indirectly gave benefit to the state, which has clearly by its actions violated the fundamentals of the constitution of our country. The workforce is hopeless now and wondering whether they can get justice !