[sacw] South Asia Labour Notes (23 dec.99)

[Harsh Kapoor]

[[[[[[South Asia Labour Notes]]]]]]
23 December 1999
compiled by South Asia Citizens Web
_____________________
#1. Railway Workers Protest In Pakistan
#2. Discontent is high in Sri Lanka's many tea plantations
#3. Countdown to Golden Handshakes in India's banks
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#1.
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999
Subject: Railway Workers Protest In Pakistan
Recieved from: Taimur Rahman

=46IFTEEN THOUSAND RAILWAY WORKERS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST MILITARY GOVERNMENT I=
N
PAKISTAN

Fifteen thousand Railway workers came out in demonstration against the
Military government on Saturday the 18th of December. The military
government has taken over the railway department in Pakistan. The British
set up the Railways in India. Marx said at the time that capitalism in the
sub-continent spread through the British Railway system. Therefore, the
oldest proletariat in the Sub-Continent is the Railway workers. They
played a decisive role in the independence struggle. The Lahore Railway
station in particular was the center of all anti-British militant strikes.
After independence the Railway Workers Union was always the stronghold of
the Communist movement in Pakistan. Great revolutionaries like Faiz Ahmed
=46aiz (a revolutionary poet who won the Lenin peace prize and is the
equivalent of Pablo Neruda for the sub-continent) was the General
Secretary of the RWU and Mirza Ibrahim, a miltant worker, served as the
President until his recent death. In the history of hte progressive
movement in Pakistan, the Railway workers have always played the role as
the vanguard of the working people. Now they are once again arousing the
working population of Pakistan to mass action. Recently, the military
government announced that they were going to finish the compensation
received for overtime work and piece-work. This would have meant a
reduction of between Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,000 for the railway workers. That
is a reduction from one fifth to one half in their monthly salaries.
Needless to say, the workers were not going to take this lying down. The
police and army attempted to stop the protest march with a latthi (baton)
charge but the railway workers replied with stones and fists and routed
the police and army. Next day the army did not show up in the offices. Now
negotiations are underway but one thing is clear. There is only one social
force with the ability to confront the military dictatorship and the class
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the Proletariat. Whatever the outcome of
the union negotiations, the Railway workers are once again arousing the
working masses of Pakistan.

----------------
#2.
BBC News | SOUTH ASIA |
Monday, 20 December, 1999, 13:34 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_572000/572444.stm

PRAYER BEATS POLITICS ON THE PLANTATION
DISCONTENT IS HIGH IN SRI LANKA'S MANY TEA PLANTATIONS

By Susannah Price in Colombo

Every time there is an election in Sri Lanka, crowds of political activists
make their way up the steep winding roads to the tea plantations in the
hill country.

They distribute leaflets and posters, hold noisy rallies and promise more
money and better conditions to nearly a million workers supporting the
industry.

Mayawati, who earns about $1.5 a day for plucking the leaves from tea
bushes, has few illusions about politicians.

"At election time they have lot of meetings and make promises and when
they come to power they just forget about us," she says.

After the elections they will pretend not to know us Plantation worker
Tevane "We have to do this work for 100 rupees a day, just enough to stop
ourselves starving and of course it's not enough," she adds.

The plantation workers live in one roomed bungalows called line rooms,
each one has several people inside.

There is so little space that many families have built a separate kitchen
next to the house.

Plantation workers face poor wages and living conditions Tevane, who
has worked on the tea plantations for 40 years, keeps her pots and pans in
neat rows in the wooden shack where she cooks.

She has no hope of getting a better place to live.

"They will come and ask us for our votes and promise to do many things for
us like improve the housing but after the elections they will pretend not
to know us," she says.

Union's pitch

The largest trade union in Sri Lanka, which is extremely strong in the
plantations, the Ceylon Workers Congress, has been urging the workers to
support President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

As long as you don't start doing show business then people will be behind y=
ou

The new leader of the union, Arumugam Thondaman, is the grandson of the
veteran politician who died this year after devoting his life to fighting
for the plantation workers' rights.

"For 60 years my grandfather was in politics and you saw the reaction when
he died, he was not a self-centred man," said Mr Thondaman.

"As long as you don't start doing show business then people will be behind
you," he says.

But the union has lost much support, according to K Vivehandandan, a
lawyer in the hill country.

He says the workers will not automatically transfer their support to the
grandson.

"They sympathise with Thondaman but don't see an effective bondage between
the two," Mr Vivehanandan says.

Opposition

The opposition United National Party, which is supported by other trade
unions, is sounding equally confident and is already claiming victory.

The politicians come around in election time The voting patterns in the tea
plantations is extremely fluid, and complicated.

The government's deputy housing minister who comes from the area has
already defected to the opposition.

But neither side can promise more than the industry can deliver. And the
companies which own and run the estates say the collapse of the Russian
market and other factors have left them short of money.

Basic demands

While many plantation workers have given up hoping to improve their own
lives, they are adamant their children should be well educated and get out.

And there are now fears of a potential labour shortage.

It is important they have a good quality of life and a good wage

At the Tea Research Institute, researchers are examining ways to improve
the quality of life for the labourers through new plucking machines and
better collecting baskets.

But this has nothing to do with votes. WW Modder, the director of the TRI,
says a contented workforce is vital for Sri Lanka's economy.

"It is not merely money making enterprise that is important," he says.

"This is part of the culture. It is important they have a good quality of
life and a good wage and that is what we are doing," he adds.

The politicians will never be able to match all the expectations of the
plantation workers on wages and conditions.

But there are increasing calls for them to look at issues such as
education, roads and housing where they can have an effect.

Otherwise many workers will continue to believe their time is better spent
praying at the temple rather than listening to more empty promises at
campaign meetings.
--------------------------

#3.

The Telegraph
22 Dec 1999
http://www.telegraphindia.com/front_pa.htm

COUNTDOWN TO VRS IN BANKS
by Sutanuka Ghosal

Calcutta, Dec. 21
The Union finance ministry has asked chief executives of all nationalised
banks to quickly prepare a voluntary retirement scheme to cut their massive
surplus manpower.

In a notification issued by Shekhar Agarwal, joint secretary in the
department of banking in the finance ministry, bank chiefs have been told
that VRS may be offered to any employee who has completed 20 years of
service or is 50 years of age.

The government is distressed by the low productivity and high establishment
costs of public sector banks because of excess manpower. Establishment cost
is 20.13 per cent of total expenses in public sector banks compared with
7.66 per cent in foreign banks and 3.04 per cent in new private banks. At
the same time, the business per employee in public sector banks is only Rs
89.20 lakh as opposed to Rs 4.46 crore in foreign banks and Rs 8.85 crore
in new private banks.

Nearly half a million employees of nationalised banks are in the age group
of 40 to 50 and will be eligible for the proposed voluntary retirement
programme.

Under the existing compensation formula generally applicable to public
sector enterprises, retiring employees are given normal terminal benefits
on the date VRS comes into effect in addition to an amount equivalent to
one-and-a-half months=92 emolument for each completed year of service or
monthly emolument at the time of retirement multiplied by the months of
service left before the normal date of superannuation, whichever is less.

The ministry has given bank managements freedom to prepare their own
schemes. They have been asked to send their suggestions for funding VRS
programmes without delay.

Unions, which have already got wind of the finance ministry communication
to bank chiefs, have said: "The issue of VRS is not negotiable with the
management." "The banks have already stopped fresh recruitment. They do not
fill vacancies created either by retirement or promotion of existing
employees. We shall resist if they now introduce job cuts in the name of
VRS," said a senior leader of the CPM-affiliated Bank Employees=92 Federatio=
n
of India.

The terminal benefits to an employee opting for VRS are: the balance in his
provident fund account payable according to the contributory provident fund
regulation, cash equivalent of accumulated earned leave, gratuity and one
month=92s pay/three months=92 notice.