Public Employees & Workers Cannot Forego Their Right To
Strike
The All India State Government
Employees’ Federation notes with deep concern and anguish that
the Division Bench of Supreme Court of the country by their
verdict on 21 July’03 has not only upheld the arbitrary
dismissal of about two hundred thousand state government
employees and teachers who took part in the state-wide strike
beginning on 2 July’03, but highly justified the most autocratic
repressive measures of the Tamilnadu Government by terming the
strike ‘illegal’ and stating that the ‘Jayalalitha Government
has sent a tough message that maladministration can be caused in
this way.’
This is most unfortunate and
obviously a open support for the most vindictive action against
the employees and teachers by the political leadership of the
Government and the bureaucracy to suppress a justified
collective action by the employees and teachers for redressal of
their grievances when all other means of negotiated settlement
failed.
The Tamilnadu Government resorted
to drastic cut in the pensionary benefits and other dues of the
employees and teachers which they earned through years of hard
struggles.
We are shocked that the Apex Court
instead of striking down the draconian Ordinance issued by the
Tamilnadu Government arbitrarily amending the Tamilnadu
Essential Services Maintenance Act 2002 at a time when the
Tamilnadu Assembly was in session, the Apex Court gave its
strong approval.
This judgment of the Supreme Court
justifying the action of the Tamilnadu Government in dismissing
more than two hundred thousand employees and teachers and
chargesheeting about 2,500 employees on the plea of so-called
‘violence’ and requesting the Tamilnadu Govt. to consider
reinstating the dismissed employees except those charge sheeted
on the condition that the dismissed employees and teachers
tender ‘unconditional apology’ for their action and give an
undertaking not to resort to strike again, is nothing but an
utter humiliation of the employees and adding insult to injury.
The Apex Court’s assertion that
Indian Constitution does not provide the government employees
right to strike is nothing but justifying the British made
Government of India Act 1935 by which the British Govt. treated
the government employees of India as virtual slaves.
The imperialist government did so,
while in their own country U.K., the government employees were
allowed the right to strike and even to contest elections on
certain conditions.
In fact, the Constitution of India
does not say which sections of the workers are eligible for
strike. Article 19 guarantees fundamental rights for all and
another Article speaks of some restrictions which the Central
Government and the State Governments are to consider and decide.
Accordingly, Central Govt. and State Governments framed Govt.
Servants’ Conduct Rules at the Centre and in different States.
Right to strike is fundamental trade union right and the Indian
Trade Union Act of 1926 and the Industrial Dispute Act of 1947
deal with right to form trade unions and collective bargaining
by the workers.
The working class of India, for
that matter throughout the world, have established their rights
through struggle and sacrifice. Whether industrial working class
or government employees, they cannot forego their right to
collective bargaining including the right for strike in
furtherance of their legitimate interests whatever may be the
circumstances. Here in the present case, in Tamilnadu the strike
took place under a compelling circumstances to restore their
earned benefits which were arbitrarily cut down.
The International Labour
Organization- a tripartite body of the UN system in its
Conventions 87, 98 and 154 have accepted those rights and
Convention 151 which is meant for the Public Service has
specifically mandated that ‘Public Employees shall have, as
other workers, the Civil and Political rights which are
essential for the normal exercise of freedom of association,
subject only to the obligations arising from their status and
the nature of the functions’.
IL0’s Convention is a tripartite decision – Government, employer
and the Labour and Govt. of India as a founder member of ILO
cannot morally ignore it. Whether the Govt. of India has
ratified these Convention or not is a different matter. The
trade union movement has althrough demanded ratification of this
Convention by the Govt. and go ahead to assert their rights.
The attacks made by the Tamilnadu
Govt. on the employees and teachers is totally unprecedented in
the history of India’s trade union movement.
We strongly urge that Tamilnadu
Govt. withdraw all victimizations, dismissals, charge sheets,
etc. and restore the arbitrarily cut pensionary and other
benefits of the employees and teachers.
We urge upon all trade unions of
the country and the International trade unions to rise in strong
protest against such virulent attack on the trade union rights
of the employees and teachers and to restore the snatched away
economic benefits which has come in pursuit of the neo-liberal
economic policy dictated by World Bank-IMF.
We strongly appeal to all trade
unions of India to come out against such atrocities of the
Tamilnadu Government and protect the trade union rights of the
public employees and the working class as such.
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