The Life of Labour, a compilation of important labour developments from around the world, will be delivered to your inbox every week. Click here to subscribe.
TSRTC unions intensify strike
The strike by employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which has crippled public road transport in the state, entered its third week. Nearly 48,000 employees affiliated with various unions of the corporation started an indefinite strike demanding a wage hike and merger of the corporation with the state government on October 5. Four people reportedly died during the strike.
The joint action committee (JAC), which is leading the strike, is demanding that the corporation be merged with the state government as it is a public service. “The corporation is essentially a loss-making body and about 35% of its expenses goes towards operations, mainly to buy diesel for buses,” a TSRTC official told Livemint. The JAC also claims that salary hikes are due since 2017.
Intensifying their strike, the JAC held a meeting with different political parties and people’s organisations and announced agitations in varied forms for the October 21-27 period, Hindu BusinessLine reported. The Telangana high court had, on Friday, directed the corporation and employees to negotiate and settle all disputes by October 28.
“A committee of RTC executive directors have been tasked to prepare a report after studying the demands. The report will be given to the high court within this week,” The News Minute reported.
Bank employees’ strike
Banking services were partially hit across the country as two bank employees’ unions, the All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), went on a 24-hour strike from 6 am on October 22 to 6 am on October 23. SBI, the biggest public bank, wasn’t affected as the two unions don’t have much membership among their employees.
The strike is mostly a protest against the merger of ten public sector banks into four big creditors of global scale. “The bank unions are also demanding reduction in service charges and penalty charges, besides an increase in interest rates on bank deposits,” Livemint reported.
News agency PTI reports that around four lakh employees of public sector banks were involved in the strike. The strike has been supported by central trade unions and the All India Bank Officers’ Association (AIBOA).
Employees of two bank unions during a day long strike to protest against the government’s bank merger plan in Mumbai on October 22, 2019. Photo: PTI/Shashank Parade
Last month, various bank officers’ organisations had also called for a 48-hour strike, however, it was deferred after assurances from finance secretary Rajeev Kumar.
“There is a chance that we lose our jobs after the merger of the banks. This move by the Centre will create unemployment and make their condition worse,” said Jiyan Lal, general secretary, Bihar, for Bank of Baroda, told ANI. Employees see this move as a first step towards privatisation.
Cabinet approves merger of BSNL and MTNL
Following regular protests from their employees over delays in wage payments, the government on Wednesday announced in-principle merger of telecom companies MTNL and BSNL. Both the public sector companies are loss-making and employees remain uncertain about their future.
The merger is part of a revival package that includes raising sovereign bonds, monetising assets and voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for employees. Till the time of the merger, MTNL will act as a subsidiary of BSNL.
“BSNL and MTNL will also offer Voluntary Retirement to their employees, aged 50 years and above through attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), the cost of which will be borne by the Government of India through budgetary support,” the Press Information Bureau said in a release.
This move has come soon after BSNL workers urged Modi to grant a revival package to prevent shutdown. “Speaking to Business Standard, K. Sebastian, general secretary, Sanchar Nigam Executives Association, said he recently wrote a letter to PM Modi and urged him to approve the bailout package without delay,” India Today reported.
Labour code on occupational safety, health and working conditions may be delayed
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019, introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 23 by Union labour minister Santosh Gangwar and referred to the standing committee on labour on October 9, might get delayed as a house panel has said that it would require more time to review it.
“The Lok Sabha Speaker has given us three months to complete our review. We will try to wrap it up ahead of the schedule but given the number of stakeholders involved and the complexity of the subject, we may not be able to finish it during the winter session of parliament,” Bhartruhari Mahtab, the chairman of the panel, told Hindustan Times.
This code aims to replace 13 labour laws relating to safety, health and working conditions including the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and applies to all establishments employing at least 10 workers.
The code is part of the Modi government’s decision to rationalise 44 labour laws into four codes – on wages, health, industrial relations and social security. The Code on Wages has already been passed in the parliament’s last session. Trade unions have expressed strong reservations against this codification, alleging a pro-employer bias.
A labourer takes a nap on the stacked cement sacks of ACC company on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad. Photo: Reuters/Jitendra Prakash/files
The government seems keen to push the bill through in the next session of the parliament. “During our informal interactions with the ministry, we have noticed their eagerness for early clearance of the bill,” a member of the panel told Hindustan Times.
Karnataka mulls providing social security to Uber or Ola drivers, delivery persons
Karnataka’s labour minister S Suresh Kumar on Monday said that the state government is considering providing social security to platform economy workers. Officials have been asked to prepare a draft framework in this regard, PTI reported.
“In the last few years, there is new labour section that has emerged, they may be Uber and Ola drivers, Flipkart or Amazon delivery persons, also food aggregator delivery persons. They are a big section and mostly youths. Their representatives met me regarding lack of job security, incentive and several issues,” Kumar told PTI.
On the demand of IT sector workers, where there are no labour unions, he said that a meeting will be called exclusively for labour issues in the sector.
Representative image of an app cab driver. Photo: Reuters
The state government on Monday also accepted software industry body Nasscom’s offer to “help the government rewrite labour regulation in a way that it aligns with the changing requirements of private businesses,” Economic Times reported.
International news
Amazon workers ‘forced to go back to work’ after fellow employee dies on shift
Following the death of Billy Foister, a 48-year-old Amazon warehouse worker, his colleagues were told to get back to work. “After the incident, everyone was forced to go back to work. No time to decompress. Basically watch a man pass away and then get told to go back to work, everyone, and act like it’s fine,” a worker told The Guardian.
Edward Foister, Billy Foister’s brother, blames Amazon for his death. “There was no reason for my brother to have died. He went to AmCare complaining about chest pains. He should have been sent to the hospital, not just sent back to work just to put things like toothpaste in a bin so somebody can get it in an hour,” Edward said. “It seems Amazon values money way more than life. If they did their job right, I wouldn’t have had to bury my little brother.”
This incident is only the most recent in a series of deaths on the job in Amazon. The company is included in the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s 2019 Dirty Dozen list of the most dangerous employers in the United States.
Why the deal for striking GM workers is hardly a victory
Workers at General Motors organised under the banner of United Auto Workers union (UAW), who went on the longest strike in a decade and which cost GM $100m a day, are cautious about a new deal that might end the strike. “Both sides are under intense pressure to sign a deal. General Motors is losing as much as $90 million a day, and thousands of auto workers are draining their savings, having been out of work since September 16,” Vox reported.
The union recently released details of the deal, which Vox writer Alexia Fernández Campbell calls “not terrible for workers” but hardly a victory. In this article, she discusses the wins and losses for the workers.
Extra reading
The trauma floor: The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America
India has a new code to simplify law on minimum wages – but it doesn’t give workers any real benefit
Distress signal: Share of youngest workers in NREG begins to rise
Basic income can’t do enough to help workers displaced by technology
Robots aren’t taking warehouse employees’ jobs, they’re making their work harder
Revenge of the moderators: Facebook’s online workers are sick of being treated like bots
Addressing the human cost of Assam tea
