This impact has been felt largely due to declining strength of the Left parties in these elections, especially in West Bengal. The purpose for mentioning this is not to go into how and why of the defeat of the long-ruling Left Front in West Bengal but only to take note of its implications for the emerging united labour movement in the country.

The captains of industry in the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory council have more emphatically urged the Government to push forward the long delayed economic and financial reforms. The ruling UPA-2 leaders, bogged down by seething allround corruption and ghosts of scams, seem to be hopeful that they can now pick up the thread of economic and labour reforms.

Among the labour leaders, apprehensions of fresh attack on workers in the post-Assembly elections scenario are natural. The Manmohan Singh Government had refused to even talk to the 8 CTUOs on the 5-point demand charter. And, this, despite the fact that all CTUOs of centre-Left-Rightist orientations had jointly campaigned on these demands for over a year. Labour laws were already being flouted with impunity in public and private sector enterprises, except where the workers had the capacity to force the issue.

In this backdrop, the 8 CTUOs’ meeting on May 29, in Delhi assumed special importance for more reasons than one. The meeting had been convened to consider the impact on price inflation due to Government’s decision to again hike the petrol and diesel prices. All agreed that it would play further havoc with the prices of essential goods and that prices inflation and hoarding of essential goods would badly affect workers’ and employees’ life.

The meeting therefore decided to hold countrywide protest demonstrations against price rise in essential commodities on June 23. Joint State conventions are likely to be organised to prepare workers for observing an effective all-India protest day on June 23.

Significantly, the May 29 meeting was also attended by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the Self-Employed Women Association (SEWA). Both were party to the meeting’s conclusion that another round of price rise was in the offing due to hike in petrol and diesel prices. They will also join the all-India protest demonstrations. The BMS would seem to have rejoined the CTUOs’ joint movement from which it had parted company on the eve of the CTUOs’ all-India general strike last September. Its future role vis-à-vis the joint movement will remain a matter of conjectures.

More notable, in the context of joint labour movement, is that the 8 CTUOs TU Platform is steadily becoming a centre of gravity for smaller national and regional trade union organisations, having affiliations or not, in their struggle against the Government’s oppressive anti-labour policies.

The May 29 CTUOs’ meeting had to deal with yet another situation. It is gathered that the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) had complained that after the Assembly elections, the cadres of the ruling Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress were attacking the CITU offices in West Bengal and making it impossible for them to function. The TU Platform was obviously required to take note of it and take necessary steps.

The only result of the CITU complaint is understood to have been that the INTUC president Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, who chairs the 8 CTUOs’ conclaves, wrote a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that the trade union offices in the State be allowed to function normally. He did not specify about the CITU’s complaint. Obviously, too simple a response to the serious situation being faced by the Left trade unions in the State.

This implies that while the Left trade unions would continue to strengthen the united labour movement in the rest of the country, in West Bengal the Left TUs will have to together face the situation till the non-Left CTUOs also come to their own conclusion as they have done in rest of the country and joined together to defend the workingclass from offensive of corporate-centric liberaliser policy-makers.

Since the nationwide protest demonstrations against price-rise on June 23 is a part of the 8-CTUOs campaign on the 5 point demand charter, the May 29 meeting only briefly reviewed the overall campaign and decided to meet again on June 27 to chalk out future course of the joint action on the demand-charter. The momentum for next campaign would have already been set by the nationwide protest demonstrations on prices. (IPA Service)