CPIML MLAs Demand Withdrawal of 12 Hour Workday Order in Bihar
THE three CPIML Bihar MLAs Mahboob Alam, Satyadev Ram and Sudama Prasad wrote a letter to the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 15 May 2020 protesting against the announcement to increase working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours and demanding immediate withdrawal of this order.
The MLAs said that a large number of migrant workers are from our own State Bihar. Instead of giving some relief to the workers in these inhuman conditions, Nitish Gov is following the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other States and have announced increase in working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours. This is not only injustice towards the workers but an assault on the rights they have won after long struggles. Abrogation of labor laws means that all the rights of workers are in jeopardy and they will become slaves of their employers/owners.
We had hoped that the government would make some good plan for the migrant workers when they return to Bihar. Most of them are skilled labor and their skills could have been used to build a new Bihar; industries in Bihar could have been developed better. But the government is doing the exact opposite. This will not only increase unemployment but the lives of workers will become even more difficult.
The BJP-JDU government in Bihar has talked a lot about development of Bihar. When we spoke of migration, the Chief Minister used to say that people are going outside the State because they wish to. But today the truth has come out for all to see and the truth of the development of Bihar has been exposed. Migration has only increased, and migrant workers from Bihar are forced to live in other States under extremely inhuman conditions. They have been abused as ‘Corona Bomb’ in BJP-ruled States and have been subjected to attacks in Surat and other States while Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi continue shamelessly to make tall claims. The BJP and JDU are both anti-Bihar and anti-worker.
Therefore our demand is that working hours should at no cost be extended and the Bihar government should think seriously about an agenda to provide employment to all workers.
Trade Unions Protest Nitish Gov.’s Order Raising Working Hours to Twelve
Various Trade Unions organized a protest rally from GPO Golambar to Buddha Smriti Park in Patna against the abrogation of workers’ rights. Raising slogans against the enslavement of workers and the raising of working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours, the trade unions burnt copies of the Bihar Government order proclaiming a 12-hour work shift for workers.
AICCTU, CITU, AITUC, INTUC, TUCC, AIUTUC and Mahasangh Gope Group participated in the protest. The rally burnt the copies of Bihar government Notification No. 1219 dated 9-5-20 proclaiming the order for a 12-hour working shift.
Speaking on the occasion, Central Trade Union leaders said that the government is bent on abrogating labor laws and making slaves out of workers. They demanded that the abrogated laws should be reinstated and the order for 12-hour work shift should be immediately cancelled. They said that the Modi government and the State governments are responsible for the death of migrant workers across the country and demanded that all migrant workers should be brought home safe and free of cost by train and should be given Rs 10,000 Lockdown Allowance.
