(Text of appeal issued by RCF Employees Union Kapurthala to fellow rail workers)
ONCE again the threatening clouds of corporatisation are looming large over not just the Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala but all Production Units of the Indian Railways. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India for a second time and beloved of capitalists all over the world, is bent on handing over the Indian Railways to private capitalists. Dancing to the tune of Indian and foreign capitalists, the Modi government has issued a 100-day Action Plan for the Railways through which they have made clear their intention to corporatise (and very soon privatise) all the 7 production units of the Indian Railways.
What will happen to workers after separating the Production Units and forming the Indian Railway Rolling Stock Company (IRRSC) (Corporatization)? What will happen to passengers?
- Railway facilities such as Pass, PTO, Pension and Medical facilities will be snatched away.
- Workers will be forced to join their jobs anew on the terms and conditions of the Company.
- Workers will be forced to take forced retirement.
- Pay scales will be fixed on a new basis; Pay Commission, Dearness Allowance, and other Allowances will be ended.
- New workers will be recruited at token salaries under the Contract System resulting in extreme exploitation.
- Salaries and other facilities will not be paid on time; the sword of ‘removal from job’ will always hang threateningly over the worker; safety and security of the worker will be in serious danger.
- Quality of production will be compromised, thus endangering the lives of railway passengers.
- The country’s natural wealth, labour force, and resources will be freely looted, and the price of this will be paid by the people in the form of uncontrolled pollution, anarchism, and loot.
- The common man and woman in the country, for whom trains are the only means of transport, will be bereft of rail travel as railway services will be made much more expensive.
- Government machinery will come to a standstill during war, natural disasters and other such times, and capitalists will loot the country with no holds barred. The country will once again turn in the direction of slavery.
Therefore, it is extremely necessary to strongly oppose the Modi Government’s 100-day Action Plan. We appeal to the RCF Employees Unions, all workers, all social organisations and families to unite in the struggle in order to save lives and livelihoods.
