CHQ had written to GM(Admn) on 27-03-2023 about the difficulties being experienced by the BSNL retirees due to wrong interpretation of the Office Order dated 19-06-2020 issued by the BSNL Corporate Office by certain Circles/BAs resulting in denial of without voucher medical allowance to many retirees. The issue was discussed in person by the General Secretary with GM(Admn) on 06-04-2023 and the GM had agreed to issue necessary clarifications in this regard. When it was delayed CHQ once again wrote to the GM(Admn) on 26-04-2023 urging early action. CHQ is thankful to the GM(Admn) that necessary clarifications have been issued vide office order dated 02-05-2023. It is also asked to make immediate payment to those pensioners who were denied medical allowance due to non-submission of option every year.
Let us observe May day on 1st May,2023 jointly with other trade unions/ associations by hoisting flags and organising rallies/ meetings.
This time the observance of May Day has more importance as the working class and pensioners are subjected to severe attacks globally from the forces of world capitalism, in the form of neo-liberalism. It is an encouraging development that struggles against such attacks are also gaining momentum in many countries
.In India also the rights of the workers are curtailed by replacing the hard won labour laws with four labour codes. Contrctual appointments are made applicable even to the armed forces.
The assets of the country are being handed over to the corporates for throw away prices in the name of National Monetisation Pipeline, in addition to the privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings. The wealth of the country is cornered by the super rich, widening the gap between the rich and poor.
The pensioners are also facing serious challenges. The Central Government, despite strong demand and struggle to scrap the NPS and restore OPS is continuing it’s negative stand. The appointment of a Secretary level committee to suggest any improvement in the NPS and it’s terms reference are nothing but a farce, only with an eye on the 2024 general election.
The pension revision of BSNL absorbed pensioners is unnecessarily and unjustifiably being delayed. The order of the Supreme Court for higher pension for the EPF pensioners is not being implemented by insisting for refund of huge amount for submission of option. The Central Government has not made any increase in the social welfare pension of Rs.200 since 2014 while very lavish in granting concessions to the corporates.
The most worrisome fact in the country is the attempts by Sangh Parivar, supported by the ruling class, to divide the people in the name of caste and religion. A sense of terror is rampant threatening the very existence of our constitution and democracy. The intolerance of the government against those who oppose it’s policies have come into fore in several cases in the recent past, the latest being the derecognition of NFPE.
The historic Worker -Peasant Rally on 5th April, 2023, participated by lakhs of workers, farmers and many other sections, in New Delhi has reflected the determination of the toiling masses to resist the onslaught of the government.
In Kerala,the only left democratic government in the country, has shown its commitment to the poor people by giving Social Welfare Pension to 65 lakh people @ Rs.1600 per month without compromising on the developmental projects
.So comrades, let us reaffirm on the occasion of the May Day to continue our fight against all injustices and for the resolution of our just and genuine demands to ensure a decent and dignified life at the fag end of our life
The Postal Department has withdrawn the recognition of All India Postal Employees Union Class III and National Federation of Postal Employees on flimsy grounds.
This is nothing but a naked attack against the democratic functioning of the most vibrant and strong union in the Postal Department. NFPE and it’s constituent unions which inherit the great tradition of the erstwhile NFPTE, have got the recognition by getting maximum votes of the employees in the verification held by the Department, pushing the government sponsored union to the ignonimous third position.
The reason attributed for withdrawing recognition is that NFPE helped the historic Farmers Struggle by giving donation through Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers. So it is quite evident that the forces behind the attack is none other than the BJP government.
Comrades, it is part of a nefarious game plan of the government to deny democratic functioning of unions and an attempt to scuttle the concept of recognition of unions.This barbaric action of the government has to be fought unitedly by all the sections of the workers, pensioners and people who stand for democracy.
AIBDPA strongly condemn the derecognition of NFPE and declare all the support and solidarity to NFPE. CHQ calls upon all its units to take the initiative for protest actions, jointly with like minded organisations, wherever possible.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, the militant, class-oriented voice, representing 105 million workers who live, work, and struggle in 133 countries of the 5 continents, honors the 137th anniversary of the struggle of workers in Chicago in 1886 that constituted a lasting milestone of the working class and a bright beacon for the struggles of today and tomorrow for stable work with rights, social security, free public, and universal health and education, dignified life.
Nowadays the crisis of capitalism is deepening in the length and breadth of the globe, resulting in the open violation of democratic and trade union rights, the deterioration of working and living conditions, and the dramatic widening of social inequalities, poverty, and exploitation. The big capital and its political representatives were using the pretext of the capitalist crisis of all kinds to attack even the most fundamental democratic and trade union rights, like the right to strike, to demonstrate, and to organize. They do whatever they can to transfer the consequences of the crisis to the shoulders of the working class, the pensioners, the farmers, and to the poorer part of the self-employed people.
The uncontrollable increase of the prices; especially the prices of essential goods, as well the “energy poverty”, is another way to cut salaries and to protect and increase profits resulting in even more poverty and deterioration of the workers living standards. They once again want the peoples and the workers to pay for their crisis. But the workers are not willing to be shouldered the bill. This message is loudly and clearly heard from more and more workplaces, from more and more countries.
The WFTU affiliates, in the militant spirit of the recent 18th congress we had in Rome one year ago, are at the forefront of these struggles, demanding the satisfaction of the contemporary needs of the workers at all levels: salary, employment, social security, health care, education, culture. We are strengthening our opposition against privatization and anti-labour policies, we stand by the side of the struggling female worker, the one who suffers from double exploitation fighting for equal rights to work, society and life. In the same direction, we continue our fight in favor of the youngsters who always are the first victims of the capitalist crisis and the migrants who are exploited as cheap workforce. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the vulnerable parts of the workers’ class, demanding dignified income for the under-employed workers, proper jobs for the unemployed, and decent pensions for the retired workers. We strengthen our militant actions to ensure all labor rights and freedoms, and the conventions to be implemented in practice instead of being empty words in pares. These struggles are relentlessly and unwaveringly given despite the sharpening of state repression and authoritarianism, unfortunately with the tolerance or even the cooperation of surrendered trade union leaders together with yellow unions who are aligned with the orders of the capital.
In addition to the aftermaths of the pandemic and the economic crisis, the bourgeoisie wants the working class to pay also the price of the imperialist war of the US, NATO, EU with Russia in Unkraine. We reiterate our firm internationalist solidarity with the suffering peoples. We demand the end of the war in Ukraine, the elimination of all the imperialist wars, the disengagement and dismantling of NATO and all military coalitions, and the abolition of nuclear weapons. We intensify our struggle to ensure the right of peoples to live in peace and determine freely and independently their present and future. We fight to stop the economic wars and sanctions as a means of promotion of foreign imperialist interests in sovereign and independent countries. We an immediate end to the criminal embargos against socialist Cuba and the continuous crime against the Palestinian people. Our most powerful weapons are INTERNATIONALISM and SOLIDARITY. No worker must feel alone.
The WFTU on the occasion of 2023 International Workers Day conveys its warm, internationalist, militant, and class greetings to all struggling workers and to all militant trade unions that tirelessly and decisively conduct the daily fight for dignity, for the satisfaction of the contemporary need of the working class and the popular strata. We intensify our common actions in every sector, in every country, in every continent, for the emancipation of the working class, to meet our own class interests and needs; against the root cause of poverty, misery, wars, and refugees; to build a just human-centered society with dignified living and working conditions for every human being, a society free of the capitalist barbarity and man-by-man exploitation.
We call upon all the affiliates and friends of WFTU to honor the International Workers Day under the slogans and banners of the WFTU:
-Internationalist solidarity: the weapon of the working class
