By Com. PP Krishnan, President, South Zone Insurance Employees Federation (SZIEF), reproduced from Insurance Worker, May 2025
Why the workers are always on the street against the policies of the Union Government? Because they learned from experience that these policies are anti-worker and pro-corporate in its content.
These policies in no way will help to fulfil their right for a decent life. Being pro- corporate, their focus is always to maximize the profit of capitalists. The easiest way to increase profit is to reduce the cost. For the corporates, the most preferred option to reduce their cost is to reduce cost pertaining to the labour, which is possible only by furthering exploitation on worker.
Under neoliberal policy regime every act of those in power is directed towards easing labour exploitation to reduce labour cost and increase profit. Also, in a class divided society, struggle for wages is the most difficult one as the capital will always try to minimise the labour cost to maximize its profit. We are witnessing since early 90s various methods being adopted in this direction in different sectors.
The search for labour cost reduction aims first at curtailing the benefits being enjoyed by the workers. We have witnessed in the recent past the working class losing many of their hard earned benefits. Benefits are withdrawn partially or fully, delayed or deferred or denied. Government servants losing their guaranteed pension was beyond imagination till it was taken away by the Union Government. State Governments and PSUs including LIC followed. PSGI employees are yet to get wage revision due on 01.08.2022. BSNL employees are still drawing salary as per 2007 pay scales and HMT employees as per 1997 pay scales.
Answering a question in the Parliament, the Government disclosed that an amount of Rs. 983.02 crores are due to employees/ pensioners of seven Central PSUs under Heavy Industries Ministry.
Despite repeated demands from workers, the Government is unwilling to ensure a minimum monthly wage of Rs.26000 to all or to provide a wage of Rs. 600 per day under MGNREG Programme or to enhance the minimum pension under EPS to Rs.9000 per month or to implement a universal social security scheme to support the people. We can quote many instances of benefits being withdrawn from workers or being denied to them under the neoliberal policies.
Another way to reduce labour cost is to reduce the number of workers so that total amount to be spent for them will come down. Today no regular recruitment is there in government departments or PSUs even to replace the natural exits. As a result, the workforce is made slim and trimed in every sector.
In LIC, in the seven year period from 31.03.2017 the number of Class 3 & 4 employees is reduced by 11679 (as on 31.03.2024). In public sector banks, compared to 2011, the number of employees as on 1.1.2025 is less by 41817. Bank unions assess that there are almost 150,000 vacancies of clerks and 50,000 vacancies of sub-staff. As per theFinance Ministry report on Pay and Allowances, for the third consecutive year, one in every four civilian post in the Central Government was vacant as of 01.03.2023. As of 31st March 2023, over 9.7 lakh or a little over 24% of sanctioned strength was vacant.
While replying in the Parliament, the Government admitted that as on August 2023 nearly 9.64 Lakhs vacancies are there in the Central Government Departments. As per Public Enterprises Survey Report 2023-2024, the number of permanent employees in CPSEs came down by 26,392 in one year.
These deliberate attempts to bring down the number of permanent workers is to be seen in the background of worsening unemployment situation, especially among educated youth. As per India Employment Report 2024, published jointly by ILO and Institute of Human Development, 83% of jobless Indians are youth. Among total unemployed youth, the proportion of educated youth possessing at least secondary education has almost doubled from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022.
The third method adopted by capital to reduce its cost is to create a new group of workers who are eligible for no benefits as available to permanent workers. Today, engaging employees as casual, contract, daily wage, temporary, outsourced employees, etc are confined not only to private sector, but is routine in public sector too. They are doing the same job as a permanent employee, but at a paltry sum as remuneration. The Government has legalised Fixed Term Employment.
The NDA government, forgetting its earlier promise of two crore jobs a year, is now campaigning for appointment as apprentice or on internship. Already some PSGI Companies have started appointing apprentices at a monthly remuneration of Rs. 9,000 and some PSBs at Rs. 15,000. There are lakhs of Scheme Workers under various central government schemes like ASHA, Anganwadi, Mid Day meal etc. They are not even categorised as workers, hence not getting any benefits including minimum wages. Central Public Sector Enterprises witnessed an increase of 56950 in the number of non-permanent employees in a year (while permanent employees number came down by 26392). As per Public Enterprises Survey 2023-24, 53.6% of total employees are falling under non- permanent category.
With the support and consent of Government, the formal employment is getting replaced by the informal employment in every sector. Policy makers are happy with this not merely because of the cost saving, but more because they are getting a less unionised workforce so that their exploitation won’t be resisted or challenged as required.
Fourth method is to increase the working hours so that reduction in workforce will not affect output. Through struggles, workers world over established their right for eight hour work. A few months back we heard Infosys Chief advocating for 70 hours work per week. Going beyond that, recently L& T Chief demanded 90 hours work a week, including Sundays. He was asking, “What do you do sitting at home (on Sunday)? How long can you stare at your wife?” For 90 hours a week, one has to work for nearly 13 hours a day, with no weekly off!
This emerging trend is to be looked upon keeping in mind the working hours in organised sector today. Also, world over today the demand is to reduce working hours or working days. Under neoliberal policies, capital considers workers as instruments for production only, with no human values. The much-talked work life balance is nowhere in its consideration.
Lastly, the adoption of newer and higher form of technology is the most preferred method today. Workers or trade unions also cannot say no to technology as failure to suitably upgrade the technology will sometimes lead to failure of industry itself. Earlier technology was used to supplement manpower, but today it is used to replace the manpower. This naturally demands a more scientific and realistic approach from all so that the scope for human interface is retained along with adoption of technology.
The greed of capital for more and more profit and attempts to further the exploitation are putting workers under tremendous pressure in every sector. Sometimes they even fail to survive this pressure. We had reports of many such incidents even from public sector. We cannot forget Anna Sebastian, a 26 year old Audit Executive, who after completing CA with distinction joined Earnst & Young, a global consultancy with much aspirations, who is no more with us. The pressure she had undergone and the inhumane attitude of the management came in public sphere through a letter from her mother. What disturbed us more was a comment from a Union Minister that workers should practice yoga to overcome stress in workplaces. That sends a message to corporates that whatever be the level of exploitation or their inhuman attitude, the Government won’t interfere.
Further to this, now the Union government is eager to notify Labour Codes which they enacted four years back, amending 29 Labour Acts. They could not implement the same because of the resistance from trade unions.
Through these labour codes, the government is legalising many of the exploitative practices that the workers are being subjected to, including their tactics to reduce cost and maximise profit, as explained earlier. This will have serious repercussions in the organised sector too, including public sector undertakings like LIC.
The only way forward is to recognise the class content of neoliberal policies, realise the need to resist it and join the united movement of workers and peasants. The oncoming strike provides a great opportunity for the working class to unite and push back the offensive of neoliberal regime.