THE All India Municipal Workers Federation affiliated to AICCTU held its 2nd National Conference at Pune (Comrade AG Bhosle Nagar, Comrade Swapan Mukherjee Bhavan, Comrade DP Bakshi Manch) on 25 August 2018. Federation Secretary Com. Shyamlal Prasad hoisted the flag and presided over the inaugural session, with Comrade Dheeraj Rathore conducting the proceedings. Tributes were paid to Comrades DP Bakshi, Swapan Mukherjee, Yashwant Rao Chauhan, Shahir Shantanu Kamble, Subramani, departed Left and trade union leaders, and comrades who lost their lives recently in floods in Kodagu and Karnataka, and a 2 minute silence was observed in their honour.
Pune Mahanagarpalika Workers Union President Uday Bhat welcomed the conference and spoke about the achievements of the Union, stressing on the importance of unity to fight the oppression of workers through implementation of the new economic and labour policies since 1990. Addressing the open session, General Secretary of the Mahanagarpalika Workers Union Comrade Mukta Manohar spoke about the neglect of sanitation workers by the Central and State governments and said that we must work hard and together for the rights of contractual and regular sanitation workers.
Clifton D Rozario presented the keynote address on ‘Jumla of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the plight of sanitation workers’. He pointed out that while the government is spending crores of rupees on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the degrading tradition of carrying excreta on the head and manual scavenging still has to be done by people belonging to a particular caste. He demanded that the government should procure machines to replace manual scavenging, end the contractual system and guarantee employment.
The conference was also addressed by Baasaheb Surude, Milind Ranade (Maharashtra), Nirmala (Karnataka), Shashikant Mishra (Bihar), Jaiprakash Nair (Chhattisgarh), Anil Verma (UP), Mahendra Parida (Odisha), and Dashrath Singhali (Gujarat) who detailed the activities the problems and initiatives of municipal workers in their respective States. Mahanagarpalika union leader Chandrakant Gamre gave the concluding address.
The delegates session was inaugurated by AICCTU National General Secretary Com. Rajiv Dimri who said that we must fight against the anti-worker and pro-capitalist amendments to the labour laws and called upon workers to come out on the streets to oppose increasing contractualisation. Shyamlal Prasad presented the working report and Treasurer Chandra Kishore Prasad presented the audit report. A charter of demands was presented and 2 resolutions were passed. The demands included: municipal workers’ pay and allowances at par with central government workers; end closure of regular posts and create new posts; curb outsourcing and privatization; equal pay for equal work; end honorarium, incentive, daily commission and contract work and regularize all workers; guarantee regular pay and social security; end practice of carrying excreta and manual scavenging; housing allowance; and procure adequate equipment for work-convenience.
A 25-member committee was formed and 14 office-bearers were unanimously elected (Com. Uday Bhat, President; Com. Shyamlal Prasad, General Secretary; Comrades Shashikant Mishra, Santosh Kumar, Chandrakant Gamre, Dashrath Singhali, NK Natarajan, Vice Presidents; Comrades Jaiprakash Nair, Anil Verma, Dhiraj Rathore, Nirmala, Chandrashekhar Kumar, Mokhtar Ahmed Khan, Secretaries). The conference concluded with chanting of energetic and inspiring slogans.
