Better Red Than Dead?

Is the Vajpayee government’s strong economic reforms thrust also signalling the death throes of the Indian organised labour movement? Will the labour movement fade out? If the frustration and failures of recent months are any indication, then trade unionism could well become a far weaker force. Privately, India’s top union leaders admit they’re looking at a situation like Margaret Thatcher’s confrontation with the British labour unions in her quest for privatisation. Thatcher managed to crush the unions. "The next few months will see Indian trade unionism’s biggest battle," says a Left leader.

Unions have been sporadically opposing economic reforms-especially privatisation and the opening up of various sectors of the economy to private investment-ever since Manmohan Singh kicked off the process in 1991. There have been dozens of strikes in the banking and insurance sectors. But the unions have only managed to slow the process, never halt it, which was their aim. They have also been unable to change the broad liberalisation focus of any of the five governments which followed Narasimha Rao’s Congress administration. But the Vajpayee government is in a far stronger position to face off with organised labour than the last five governments, including Rao’s.

The key reason is that the Rao government and the coalitions of Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral depended on the Left parties to stay in power. As such, unions were able to pressure these governments to slow liberalisation down. The present government is under no such obligation. Also, in the last nine years, the union movement itself has become fragmented. Even the Left Front governments in West Bengal and Kerala are wooing foreign investment. Says a senior citu leader: "The going is getting tough for us. There is no unity among the unions. The pace of liberalisation is too fast and our reactions too slow."

Trade union leaders feel that Yashwant Sinha has done more in the last three months than what Manmohan Singh did in five years. Disinvestment is going full steam ahead. The opening up of the insurance sector and concrete steps to reform the power sector were achieved despite united labour strikes.

Union leaders admit privately that they have been suffering setback after setback. They agree that the "floodgates for liberalisation" have opened and accuse the government of forsaking national interest in their search for foreign capital. Notes citu general secretary and CPI(m) leader M.K. Pandhe: "We find it alarming that having failed in attracting international investors, the government is right now on a disinvestment spree to prove that they are on the right track. Ultimately, this will endanger the working class."

Senior Left union leaders admit they feel alienated in their struggle since the trade unions of the Congress are no longer active participants. Since Sonia Gandhi has made it clear that she is not interested in stalling the process of liberalisation, intuc is no longer proactive. BMS, the trade union of the Sangh parivar, is keeping a low profile on the reforms question. Although in principle the BMS is opposed to foreign investment, in practice it backs the Vajpayee government.

Now the Left is launching a last-ditch battle, with the February 2 nationwide strike in the public sector. On March 9, a demonstration is planned before Parliament. The Left hopes these efforts will galvanise public opinion. A.B. Bardhan, CPI general secretary and union leader, does not agree with the "last-ditch battle" part but says: "This is our most crucial effort to protect our national assets. Whenever the government tries to privatise a public enterprise, there will an outburst from the workers."