LAKHS OF WORKERS STAND UP & DEMAND: 

Hollow Speeches Don’t Ring: ACT NOW

Hemalata

LAKHS of workers and other toiling people stood up at thousands of locations covering most of the districts in the country – in front of their homes, on their balconies or roof tops, work places, on the main roads and small by lanes – placards and flags in hands. At 10.30 in the morning of April 21, they stood, maintaining physical distance and shouted slogans voicing their demands, for 5-10 minutes. The one common slogan that resounded across the country was ‘Bhashan nahin, ration chahiye, vetan chahiye, arthik sahayata chahiye’ (Enough of hollow speeches; Give us food wages and financial assistance). The slogan spread like wild fire across the country in less than a day.

In several places it was a single person standing in front of her/his home holding a hand written placard, in many along with their family members including children, and in still many more places people gathered in small and big groups, in front of offices, on the sides of roads and in small town/village centres. Migrant workers, stranded away from home, without proper shelter and regular food stood up with their demands written on pieces of paper.

The fact that it was observed, at a very short notice of less than a week, in all states from Jammu & Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and Kerala, from Gujarat to Assam indicates that the slogans resonated with the feelings of the people and they were waiting for that type of action. In Tripura, even though preparations were made, the state government prevented it from being observed even from within the compounds. The CITU state committee strongly condemned the government notification and wrote a letter to the prime minister. 

The call for the all India protest action was given by the CITU, which appealed to all mass organisations and people in general to support and join. The All India Kisan Sabha, All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, All India Democratic Women’s Association, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Students’ Federation of India, Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch, Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch and National Platform for the Rights of Disabled immediately responded and joined the programme. Several unions of middle class employees and in some states, state/local committees of some central trade unions also supported and joined the call.

The protest day was observed in collieries, tea gardens, construction sites, in the townships of public sector units like steel, workers’ colonies, in places where large numbers of unorganised sector workers stay, as well as at the factories and work places where they are open. Safai karmacharis, ASHAs, anganwadi employees, and others joined in thousands of places. The peasants and agricultural workers as well as the scheme workers participated in the villages. In some places, memoranda were submitted to the local authorities.

In Maharashtra, MH Sheikh, general secretary of CITU state committee and in Gautam Budha Nagar, Gangeshwar, vice president of Delhi NCR state committee, and eight activists in Behala, Kolkata were arrested.
CITU congratulated the working class and the toiling people all over the country for successfully observing, beyond expectations given the constraints of the lockdown, the protest day, in all parts of the country including in the remote villages. It has also expressed its gratitude to all the fraternal mass organisations and others who have actively campaigned among their members. It strongly condemned the arrests and the high handed attitude of the administration in Tripura.

In a statement issued on the evening of the protest day, CITU called upon the people to be united and prepared for stronger actions in the coming days as the situation improves, if the government continues with its apathy to the poor while showering bonanzas over the big corporates and business houses.

The government has extended the countrywide lockdown to May 3, 2020. Announcing the extension, the prime minister has given seven advices to the people. But there was not one sentence about the measures that his government proposes to take to provide relief to the tens of millions of workers who have lost their only source of income and are starving with their families. They are not in a position to put into practice the prime minister’s generous advices to take care of their old family members without any food or money, to observe ‘social distancing’ in their crowded houses, or to wash their hands repeatedly without any water. The employers are not ready to heed his advice about not to retrench workers and not to cut their wages. What is the use of such benevolent words for the workers? 

It is the workers, particularly the unorganised workers, the contract and casual workers, the NEEM workers, apprentices, trainees etc in the organised sector, the migrant workers including the construction, brick kiln etc workers, the workers in micro and small enterprises, the domestic workers, the small peasants and agricultural workers etc who are bearing the brunt of the lockdown due to the corona virus pandemic. The journalists, IT/ITES employees and permanent workers in the organised sector are also not spared. Every day cases of closure, retrenchments and wage cuts of workers, not only in the private sector, organised and unorganised but also from public sector companies to corporate media houses, are pouring in. It was already the workers who were the worst affected by the economic slowdown that existed even before the corona virus struck.  Even during the second phase of the countrywide lockdown, most of the migrant workers stranded at different places, far from their homes, are facing hunger; they don’t know where their food for the day will come from, if at all. Nearly 200 people died of starvation, exhaustion and other causes while trying to reach their homes on foot.

The capitalist class, the big corporates and business people, are keeping to their houses, trying new recipes and enjoying with their families whereas crores of workers who create wealth, who run the wheels of society have lost their work, have no place to stay, and are starving; those whose services to the society are indispensable are made to work without any protective gear, risking their lives. Doctors, nurses and other health workers are getting infected by Covid19 and even hospitals have to be closed. The frontline workers and cleaning workers are not even provided masks.

It is also a matter of great concern that in many parts of India the standing crops like wheat, paddy, chillies, pulses etc, are ready for harvest but the lockdown and restrictions have created a situation where harvesting, transport and marketing is curtailed. No measures are taken to ensure harvesting, remunerative price, procurement or arrangements for new cultivation. Even the pending wages in MGNREGA are not yet paid.

With all family members confined to the home, women’ space in the house has become restricted. Their workload has increased. Violence against women has increased alarmingly.

But the government has neither the time nor the inclination to address any of these serious problems faced by the crores of common people due to the lockdown.

Eminent economists and intellectuals have suggested and the central trade unions and national organisations of peasants and agricultural workers have been demanding that at least a relief package of 5-6 per cent of GDP should be announced to provide relief to the distressed millions of toiling people and revive the economy.

CITU has been demanding statutory measures for the implementation of the directives and guidelines that workers should not be retrenched and their wages should not be cut during the lockdown period. There is demand that the unemployment wage clause under MGNREGA to be used for helping agricultural workers; that harvesting and transportation work should be included under MGNREGA to ensure work and income for the agricultural workers; to extend the Employment Guarantee Act to the urban areas also to save the farmer and the agricultural workers and to ensure food security to the country by protecting the standing crops. 

The prime minister has had no ear for any of these.

Instead, the government wants to take advantage of the lockdown, to surreptitiously go ahead with its anti-workers agenda, as is reported in the media. It is reportedly going to amend the Factories Act to increase working hours to 12 hours a day. It is also reportedly moving ahead to enact the three labour codes now with the parliamentary standing committee on labour. These are nothing but measures to push workers into slave like conditions and serve their corporate masters who are explicitly demanding the same to protect their profits. The CII has estimated that their profits will come down by around 10 per cent due to the corona virus pandemic. Note that profits are not going to be wiped out. They are not ready to bear even a 10 per cent decrease in their profits. But they want to push the entire burden on to the workers who are already reeling under the impact – losing their livelihood, lives, shelterless and starving. This is the naked picture of capitalism!

The working class, already suffering the double whammy of economic slowdown and corona virus is not ready to take on this burden. It is not ready to tolerate the deceitful machinations of the government and the prime minister who has only words for the workers and the common people but money bags for the capitalists, the big corporates and business people. 

The financial package announced by the finance minister in effect comes to only 0.85 per cent of India’s GDP. Ever since the lock down was enforced, the CITU has been demanding the prime minister to ensure direct bank transfer of Rs 7500/month through jan dhan account to all the non taxpaying households, to provide free ration to all the unorganised and migrant workers and all needy people irrespective of their having ration cards or Aadhaar cards or not, to strengthen the health infrastructure, provide personal protective equipment to all front line health workers including ASHAs, anganwadi employees, sanitation workers, and to financially help the MSMEs to enable them pay the wages of their workers. The CITU has demanded that the financial package comprising at least 5-6 per cent of the GDP should be announced by the government.

People have banged pots and plates. They have switched lights off and lighted candles and diyas because the prime minister had asked them to do so. It is time the prime minister hears the voices of the people. It is time for the people to unitedly raise their voices within the constraints of the lockdown. The response of the people proves, this is what they have been waiting for.