Labour unions protest in one voice closure of sick PSUs

Central trade unions of all hues are united in their opposition to the proposed closure of so-called sick PSUs as well as the Government’s move to disinvest its stake in some profit-making undertakings.

They argue that if the Government has the will, there is still a lot of scope to revive or diversify these units and save thousands of jobs and prime assets, such as land.

A nationwide strike will be observed by the trade unions on December 5 against the proposed closure of sick PSUs, among others.

“This is an ill-intentioned government. They have taken a unilateral decision without giving due consideration to all dimensions of the matter,” said Vrijesh Upadhyay, General Secretary of the BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS).

The Centre is contemplating the closure of six sick PSUs to begin with, according to Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete. These include Hindustan Photo Films, HMT Bearings, HMT Watches, HMT Chinar Watches Ltd, Tungabhadra Steel Products and Hindustan Cables. “These six companies have an employee strength of 3,603,” Geete had said at a press conference in September.

The closure of sick units is not the answer to the problem and there is an acceptable way out, said DL Sachdeva, National Secretary of the CPI-backed All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

“Revival plans can still be drawn. In our recent meeting with the Labour Minister, we suggested that profit-making PSUs could take over the so-called sick units. The UPA-II Government was even thinking on these lines, but this Government seems adamant (on closure),” he added.

The workers are worried that the closure process may not stop with the six identified units and the Government may close many more, in phases.

According to the Public Sector Enterprises Survey of 2012-13, the number of sick PSUs increased from 64 in 2011-12 to 79 in 2012-13, and these enterprises employ over two lakh workers.

Blaming successive governments for the current plight of the once profit-making units, Upadhyay said there were various reasons for their degeneration. “For instance, there was a time when some of these PSUs supplied raw materials to their counterparts.

But, after the WTO agreement, some units, particularly in the telecom sector, were forced to source raw material from the open market,” he added. WTO rules call for giving national treatment to goods from all member countries, which means that domestic sourcing or buying from local companies cannot be made mandatory.

Upadhyay said the Government was rushing to close down units without paying heed to several other important dimensions.

“The six identified sick PSUs own prime land, which will now be sold to private companies, not after real valuation but ‘managed’ valuation,” he said, adding that it is only private corporates that will gain.

Left unions, such as the AITUC and CITU, also blamed the Government for the so-called sickness of these PSUs. The workers bear the brunt of this, they pointed out. The Government’s voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) offer has also failed to impress.

“VRS is not a solution. We raised this issue, along with our opposition to disinvestment, at our meeting with the Labour Minister. We are also observing a countrywide protest on December 5,” said Sachdeva.

In a blog, VAN Namboodiri, President, BSNL Employees Union and a veteran CITU leader, accused the Government of ignoring the public sector and making workers the scapegoats “in the hurry to maximise the profit of the private sector”.

All these PSUs were profit-making and had paid dividends to the Government, he said. They started making losses because of the Government’s pro-private policies, he added.