May 2014 10 AM
RALLY & Public Meeting
Freedom Park to Banappa Park
May Day 2014
Not a HOLIDAY to sit at home.
Not a day for distribution of SWEETS.
But a Day for PLEDGE!
Pledge -
To weed out anti-worker policies and parties.
To relaunch the fight for 8 hour work day.
To work for the abolition of contract system.
To unite the contract and other unorganised workers for trade union rights.
To secure a minimum wage of at least Rs. 15000 per month
To unite all segments of unorganised workforce,
right from pourakarmikas to computer operators,
hospital workers to garment workers,
construction workers to street vendors.
To unite all segments of working class under a single umbrella.
Let us declare May Day 2014,
As a day of contract, casual and other unorganised workforce.
As a day to settle scores with the bourgeois class.
As a day to establish the politics of the working class,
crossing the barriers of caste, creed, gender, patriarchy, region, language
and the spectrum of bourgeoisie parties.
As a day to declare red, BLOODY RED as the colour of the working class.
As a day to unfurl the red flag at the fortress of power, political power.
Working class movement in India
has witnessed struggles of Maruti workers.
has witnessed struggles of Pricol workers.
has witnessed struggles of Yenam, Noida, Toyota, Honda, etc.
Why these outbursts? Why these rebellions?
Because -
The bourgeoisie is not willing to concede any law for contract and other unorganised workers.
The bourgeoisie is not able to digest the unity of all categories of workers.
The so-called state is not at all willing to abide by neutrality any more.
Police and administration are openly colluding with industrialists against workers.
Corporates and Billionaires are coming out into the open to rule the country.
The Courts have unshaken the facade of justice to collude with corporates, rich and the powerful.
This is the time the working class should wake up!
Let the voices be turned into thunders!
Let the barriers be broken!
Let the shackles be unfettered!
Let the Working class unfurl the Banner of Red,
The Banner of Resistance, Rebellion and Justice!
Let us Regenerate the May Day of yester years,
The May Day of Martyrs,
The May Day of New Rights,
The May Day of Struggles and Resistance,
The May Day of Sacrifices, Defeats and Ultimate Victories,
Let us pledge to reinvoke the spirit of May Day,
in this era of Globalisation, Privatisation and Liberalisation!
Let us dream,
Dream for a New Society,
A New Society sans Class Disparities!
A New Society of Freedom, Secular Democracy and Justice!
A Socialist Society, the New Society of the Working People!
Inquilab! Zindabad!
AICCTU (All India Central Council of Trade Unions) is gearing up to
organise thousands of workers in Bangalore on May Day in 2014 to take on
the war of the bourgeoisie against the working class in the country.
AICCTU has declared May Day 2014 as the Contract Workers Rights Day and
is organising a mammoth rally of contract workers on 1st May at 10 AM
from Freedom Park. May Day Pamphlets are attached for your info. Please
join the May Day rally to take the pledge to fight the bourgeoisie
onslaught on the working class.
Clarion Call of the May Day –
• Let us Pledge to Fight to Counter the Bourgeoisie War on the Working Class!
• Abolish Contract Labour System, which is nothing but Modern day Slavery!
• Minimum wage of Rs.15000/per month for all workers in unorganized
sector, Rs.22500/pm for all unorganized, including contract labour in
organized sector!
• Same wages and service conditions for contract workers engaged in same and similar kind of work as permanent workers!
• Extend Service Weightage of 10% of Basic and DA for each year of service with retrospective effect!
May Day – Then and Now
History is repeating itself. In May 1886, in Chicago, workers shed their
blood demanding 8 hours work, better working conditions and living
wages. The struggles of those years are upon us again today. The
corporate and multinational companies are reaping super profits through
cruel exploitation of workers in the name of contract and by paying
starvation wages and engaging in hire and fire. Meanwhile the
administration, the bureaucracy, the police act as their agents to
prevent any democratic struggles. This is the modern day slavery. But
the workers are not cowing down and are re-staging the May Day of yester
years! Onward with the struggle of the working class!
Starvation Wages is called Minimum Wages
The government declared “minimum wages” are nothing but “starvation
wages”. Even that starvation wage is not given to lakhs and lakhs of
workers. The minimum wage is the same for a worker in unorganized
sector, unorganized in an organized sector, be it a corporate company or
a Multinational company and also for the regular workers in the same
organized sector. Scientific criterion says that a worker needs a
minimum of Rs. 22500/pm for regenerating his energy to work in the same
job for the next day. But, the government is declaring minimum wages to
guarantee super profit for industrialists.
The government declared service weightage but it is not enforced. A
worker with 20 years of service and a new entrant are being paid the
same wages. Service Weightage in Minimum Wage notification does not
mention about its retrospective application. Then, what is the reward
for the pains and sufferings of workers who devoted many years of
service for the development of the company?
Same and Similar Wages and Service Conditions for Same and Similar Work
Rule 25(2)(v)(a) says that workers engaged in same and similar nature of
work shall be give same and similar wages and service conditions. But,
no worker is being offered same wages equivalent to their counterparts
in the same company involved in the same job.
Group D / Class IV posts are abolished or being abolished in all central
and state government establishments. But, only the posts are abolished
and not the Group D / Class IV work as such. Hence, contract workers are
engaged in the same job with starvation wages and without any rights
for regularization and proper service conditions.
Plight of contract workers
Pourakarmikas are not even paid their wages on time every month. More
than 18,709 Pourakarmikas under BBMP are under contractors. They are not
even paid minimum wages, DA, as notified by the Karnataka Government on
1st of April every year. The government has not yet abolished contract
system in spite of recommendation for abolition by the committee and
order of the High Court. Workers of BWSSB are also facing the same
situation.
BEML contract workers in Bangalore and KGF are forced to get state
minimum wages which is much lesser while their counterparts in similar
public sector companies are given central minimum wages. The contract
workers of HAL, NAL, BHEL, BEL and other public sector companies shall
be paid wages on par with regular workers.
Government Hospital nurses in Bangalore are being paid a pittance. In
spite of abolition of contract labour in hospitals, nurses in
government hospitals in Bangalore are not made government employees but
they are being cheated in the name of stipendiary nurses, trainee
nurses, etc. Nurses in private corporate hospitals like Apollo, Manipal,
etc., are paying only meager wages. NIMHANS or any other hospital,
contract workers are paid only 5000-6000. Nurses, drivers and other
workers of 108 Ambulance, TB Control, AIDS Prevention, etc., are on
contract and paid meager wages only. Computer operators of KSWAN manning
the entire state administration in the state in taluk and district
offices are on contract and not even paid minimum wages. Still worse is
that doctors, teachers, professors and various other professionals are
also on contract. Horses in Race Course are treated better than SYCEs.
The government has not fixed minimum wages for Readymix Contract
industry and the contract system is not abolished in perennial nature of
work in companies like ACC, Ultratech, etc. Workers of TAJSATS and
others in the airport are being treated like slaves and are not allowed
to form their own union. Street Vendors are being chased by police and
other local vested interests and not allowed to earn their livelihood
peacefully. Construction and quarry workers are not even paid their
claims while thousands of crores of rupees of workers are being used for
the foreign tour of MLAs. BWSSB workers are also on the war path
demanding regularization and same wages.
1st May 2014 AICCTU Workers’ Rally will start from Freedom Park at 10 AM
AICCTU
ALL INDIA CENTRAL COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS
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