Report from A. Venu Madhav, AITUC
A joint convention of trade unions was held on 30 January at the sports ground of the CMPDL campus in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. In this, it was announced to make the nationwide strike called on 28 and 29 March successful. Representatives of central trade unions, independent industry-wise federations and employees’ associations were present in the convention. Preparations for the strike were discussed by first paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on Martyr’s Day. AITUC National President Ramendra Kumar said that by making this strike successful, the working class of the country is going to fulfil a historical responsibility.
The action plan for joint campaign for the next two months to prepare for the strike was discussed. Under this, an industry-based joint conventions will be held from February 1 to February 20. Joint meetings of farmers, laborers, youth and women’s organizations will be organized at the block level from February 21 to March 15.
A contact campaign will be launched at the major industrial centers of the state with the 12-point demands of strike in the workplace, colonies and labour settlements of the workers. During this, a target has been set by the labour organization to reach one lakh work places of laborers and to contact one crore laborers of Jharkhand.
Decision for Campaign
During this, a large-scale campaign will be launched on the demands of the strike among the industrial workers of the unorganized sector, including agricultural laborers and MNREGA workers and workers doing app-based work.
Participants
Unions of coal, steel, construction, transport, bidi, stone, bauxite, copper and mica industries, along with representatives of Anganwadi, Sathiya and Mid Day Meal Workers, Banks, Insurance, Central and State Government employees participated in today’s convention.
Five member presidium
The convention was presided over by a five-member presidium. They included Ramendra Kumar, National President of AITUC, Mithilesh Singh, State President of CITU, Jagarnath Oraon of AICTU, Vishnudev Giri of AIUTUC and Ramesh Singh of HMS. CITU state general secretary Prakash Viplav proposed the objectives of the convention and the outline of the upcoming programmes.
Participants who expressed their views
Ashok Yadav of AITUC presented the main proposal of the convention. On this, RP Singh of CITU, Bhuvneshwar Kevat of AICTU, Mantu Paswan of AIUTUC, ML Singh of BEFI, Ramadhar Sharma, Sunil Sah, Sudesh Kumar of Non-Gazetted Employees Federation, Anirvan Bose of Sales Medical Representatives Union, Satchidanand Mishra, Arvind Sharma and other various union representatives expressed their views.
Call for rural bandh
Virendra Kumar and Devki Nandan Bedia, on behalf of the farmers’ organizations, said that the United Kisan Morcha has called for a two-day rural bandh in support of the nationwide strike on March 28 and 29.