As workers’ protests continue to intensify across industrial units in IMT Manesar, the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) has submitted a memorandum to the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Gurugram on April 10, demanding immediate intervention to resolve the crisis faced by workers.
The memorandum states that workers from several companies in the industrial belt have been on protest demanding wage increase, implementation of an 8-hour workday, payment at double rate for overtime work, bonus, and regularisation of contract workers. It notes that the managements have refused to address these demands and instead resorted to repression.
AICCTU has condemned the use of brutal force on protesting workers. It states that managements have deployed private bouncers to suppress workers and that police action has led to the victimisation of workers and trade union activists. The organisation has demanded immediate legal action against all those responsible for violence and called for the release of workers and activists picked up by the police.
The memorandum points out that the ongoing struggle is taking place in the backdrop of rising prices of LPG, food, and essential commodities, which have pushed workers into starvation-like conditions. It states that workers are being forced to choose between returning to their home states or continuing to work under conditions of acute hardship.
Placing its demands, AICCTU has called for fixing a minimum wage of Rs 30,000 per month for unskilled workers, along with proportional increases for other categories. It has demanded strict enforcement of the 8-hour workday and payment at double rate for overtime work.
The organisation has further demanded an end to unfair labour practices and recognition of the right to collective bargaining. It has stressed that no worker should be victimised for participating in protests and that intimidation tactics, including the use of bouncers, must be stopped immediately.
A central demand raised in the memorandum is the regularisation of all contractual, temporary, and trainee workers. It has also called upon the labour department to take steps to end the contract system in factories. AICCTU has urged the labour department to convene an emergency meeting with central trade unions and other concerned unions to address the situation.
Reaffirming democratic rights, the memorandum emphasises that the right to protest is a fundamental right of workers and must not be curtailed by managements, police, or government authorities. The organisation has called upon the Assistant Labour Commissioner to take immediate steps in view of the seriousness and scale of the ongoing struggle in IMT Manesar.
