Mysuru: The two-day 4th state-level convention of All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), began at Town Hall in the heart of the city yesterday.

Inaugurating the State Conference, AIUTUC President K. Radhakrishna pointed out the severity of the job crisis in the country. He said that permanent nature of jobs are disappearing, while most of the jobs are being  outsourced to third party agencies. In the name of Fixed Term Employment (FTI) big private multinationals are forcing the desperate youths to work for a bare minimal salary which cannot suffice their livelihoods. This has been the result of the Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation (LPG) policies introduced by the then Congress Government in the 1990s. On the other hand, the BJP not only took advantage and continued the LPG policies, but also made it worse for the youths by amending the labour laws and turning them into 4 labour codes.

“Scheme workers such as Anganwadi, ASHA and Mid-day meal workers are made to work for a meagre salary without any job security. The PM of the country, while showering praise on the  labour force, is not willing to do anything to improve the livelihood of these workers.

Today, the country is seeing a rise in billionaires and some think of it as a matter of pride. But the maximum population comprising of the youths are in dire straits and are looking to shift to other countries in search of jobs, to an extent where there are extreme situations of war. In spite of such a situation, ruling Governments instigate communal politics and are dividing the people by bringing caste, language and other issues to distract the people from real issues such as unemployment, price rise etc.”, he argued.

Main speaker of the conference, Shankardas Gupta, All India General Secretary of AIUTUC, in his speech questioned that though it has been 75 years since independence, have the lives of students, youths, peasants and workers changed for good? “The gap between the rich and the poor is continuously widening and to curtail this, all the workers should get themselves organised and launch movements. Currently, the AIUTUC is the only platform which has been genuinely fighting for the worker’s cause and issues. We are next going to organise a national level conference in the month of December in Odisha, to which representatives from more than 25 States will be arriving along with leaders of various trade unions”, he noted.

City based Social Activist,  Ugranarasimhegowda condemned how the Congress Government considered increasing the work hours to 12 hours per day which came as a proposal from the profit mongering corporates and expressed happiness over how the AIUTUC has been genuinely organising worker’s movements with support from  ASHA workers, workers of Asian Paints, KPTCL, Bannari Amman Sugars etc., especially in the city of Mysore.

AIUTUC State Secretary, K. Somashekar, said that the capitalist system has increased its oppression on the workers and are trying different alternatives to enforce more of such. But here in Mysuru, we are happy that workers are made aware of such tactics and various movements are being given shape regularly. He called upon all the workers to continue holding such uncompromising struggles.

State Secretary of the SUCI(C) K. Uma was present on the dais, while Prof. Channegowda, Honourable President of the Welcome Committee inaugurated the chart exhibition at the conference.

State Secretary of the AIUTUC, Tamil Nadu, Sivakumar also spoke on this occasion.

 K. Somashekhar Yadagiri, Karnataka State President, presided the open-session of the conference. State secretariat member, Chandrashekar Meti, also spoke on the occasion.

State Vice-presidents, K.V. Bhat, D. Nagalakshmi, A. Devadas and secretariat members including M. Umadevi, N.S. Veeresh, T.C. Rama were also present on the dais.

Earlier, a rally was taken out from Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry on Vinoba road passing through Ashoka Road, before culminating  at the Town Hall. The rally witnessed workers shouting slogans opposing the anti-worker policies and other issue of the workers.

AIUTUC leader K. Umadevi, Prof. K. Kalachannegowda, D. Nagalakshmi, Savitha Pa. Mallesh, Basavanagouda Patil, Bokkahalli Nanjundaswamy, B. Ravi, P.S. Sandhya, Muddukrishna, Chandrakala and others were present.