Today is 1st
day of the month of May – celebrated as May Day.
In Oct 2014,
in an extraordinary and unprecedented move, West
Indies players came out strongly against
the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president and chief executive Wavell
Hinds, who they claim "hoodwinked" them and did not take their inputs
while signing a new memorandum of understanding with West Indies Cricket Board
last month, under which they would suffer a significant cut in their payment. .. somehow that
‘strike’ by WI Cricketers could be averted.
Kapil Dev
striking hard the leather was always enjoyable – but sadly, many industrial
strikes ended up with riots and violence, mayhem.
Half a
century or so ago, industrial activities were at their peak at Ambattur – a
blooming Industrial estate with mushrooming small scale units. Sadly, strikers
broke the backbone of small upcoming entrepreneurs – by those orchestrated
strikes by Left Unions, the worst sufferers were the workers themselves, as one
after the other Units started closing.
Now the Estate is struggling more so with migrant workers not being
available due to Covid 19. A couple of decades ago, in Banks and PSUs – Unions
could threaten the management calling strikes too often – all that has changed
! totally. One would remember witnessing
– ‘agitations / demonstrations at lunch or at the start of the day itself –
workers shouting – worker’s unity zindabad ! management murdabad !!’.
The right to
strike in the Indian constitution set up is not absolute right but it flow from
the fundamental right to form union. As every other fundamental right is
subject to reasonable restrictions, the same is also the case to form trade
unions to give a call to the workers to go on strike and the state can impose
reasonable restrictions.
Section
2(gg)(q) in The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 – defines : " strike" means a cessation of work
by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination or a
concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of
persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept
employment;
Whenever employees want to go on strike they
have to follow the procedure provided by the Act otherwise there strike deemed
to be an illegal strike. Section 22(1) of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 put certain prohibitions
on the right to strike. It provides that no person employed in public utility
service shall go on strike in breach of contract:
a. Without giving to employer notice of
strike within six weeks before striking; or
b. Within fourteen days of giving such
notice; or
c. Before the expiry of the date of strike
specified in any such notice as aforesaid; or
d. During the pendency of any conciliation
proceedings before a conciliation officer and seven days after the conclusion
of such proceedings.
It is to be noted that these provisions do not prohibit the workmen from going on strike but require them to fulfill the condition before going on strike. Further these provisions apply to a public utility service only.
1st of May is of importance to many in different ways. For some it is the May Day synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by communists, anarchists, socialists, unionists, and other activist groups. The Haymarket massacre was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day, the day after police killed one and injured several workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the meeting, and the bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; dozens of others were wounded. In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. The Haymarket Affair is generally considered significant as the origin of International Workers' Day held on May 1
Back home in India, the Great Famine of 1876–1878 (also the Southern
India famine of 1876–1878 or the Madras famine of 1877) was a famine that swept
parts of India under Crown rule. The death toll from this famine is estimated
to be in the range of 5.5 to 10.3 million people. The famine occurred at a time
when the colonial government was attempting to reduce expenses on welfare.
Earlier, in the Bihar famine of 1873–74, severe mortality had been avoided by
importing rice from Burma. The Government of Bengal and its Lieutenant-Governor,
Sir Richard Temple, were criticised for excessive expenditure on charitable
relief. The insistence on more rigorous tests for qualification, however, led
to strikes by "relief workers" in the Bombay presidency. In Jan 1877,
Temple reduced the wage for a day's hard work in the relief camps in Madras and
Bombay —this 'Temple wage' consisted of 450 grams (1 lb) of grain plus one anna
for a man, and a slightly reduced amount for a woman or working child, for a
"long day of hard labour without shade or rest."
Rather than
Haymarket square, Indians should be remembering those martyrs behind the
freedom struggle and labour unions involved in freedom movement such as Bombay
workers and that agitation at Tuticorin that changed the life of VoC, Subramania
Siva, Vanchinathan and more !
On 23 February 1908
Chidambaram gave a speech at Thoothukudi, encouraging the workers at Coral
Mill to protest against their low wages
and harsh working conditions. Four days later, the workers of the Coral Mill
went on strike. Chidambaram and Subramanya Siva led the strike. Their demands
included incremental earnings, weekly holidays and other leave facilities. Chidambaram
ensured the strike was widely publicised, and it quickly gained popular
support. The outcome of the strike
encouraged the workers of other European companies, who also gained increased
wages and better treatment. But harsh measures of British ended in arrest of
Subramaniya Siva and Chidambaranar on 12
March 1908.
The arrest was followed by
widespread protest. In Thirunelveli shops, schools and colleges were closed in
protest, and rioting broke out. The Thirunelveli municipal office, post
offices, police stations and municipal courts were attacked. A general strike
was declared in Thoothukudi, which was the first political strike in India. Public meetings and processions were held, and
four people were killed by the police. Although his supporters were able to
raise sufficient funds for bail, Chidambaram refused to leave the jail without
the release of Siva and his other comrades. Subramanya Bharathi and Subramanya
Siva also appeared in the court for questioning for the case instituted against
Chidambaram. He was charged under sections 123-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal
Code for speaking against the British and giving shelter to Siva. They were charged with sedition, and a sentence of two
life imprisonments.
The collective force of
Bombay’s working class citizens – dock workers, textile mill workers,
labourers, small merchants and traders, the informal sector workers – had
shaped the city. Their involvement in the freedom movement was natural and, for
decades later, their stories became oral narratives of the movement in working
class areas. As scholars recorded, workers’ strikes and links between the
labour class and nationalist politics were key aspects of the early years of
the movement and had become common by early 20th century. The textile mill
workers’ earliest strikes in 1892-93 were focussed on payments and working
conditions but the general strikes across the industry in 1919, 1920, 1924-25,
1928 had resonances of the freedom struggle. The week-long strike of 1908 had
set the tone for mill workers’ involvement.
Thousands of mill workers
had grown restive in June 1908 when Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested
on charges of sedition. A month later, when he was convicted and sentenced to
six years’ imprisonment, Bombay shut down. “All markets in Bombay city were
closed on July 22 and remained closed for a week,” wrote noted historian Bipan
Chandra in “India’s Struggle for Independence”, “The workers of all textile
mills and railway workshops went on strike for six days…
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
1st May 2021.
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