Union Power
November 2009
EDITORIAL
Dear Comrades,
You are all aware that the second General Assembly of NTUI is being held in Mumbai from December 13-15, 2009. Delegates to the Assembly from different NTUI affiliates will join several thousand workers to march together on December 13 at 3 PM, from Dadar TT to Damodar Hall Grounds in Parel, to mark the start of the Assembly.
It is in keeping with our trade union history that the entire campus of Damodar Hall will be named N. M. Joshi Nagar after the late Com. N. M. Joshi, founding General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), the first national trade union in the country. The Damodar Hall itself has a rich trade union tradition, with some of the earliest discussions on the formation of the AITUC having taken place within its four walls. We are confident that this rich tradition will suitably influence the discussions of our General Assembly.
On the 14th and 15th December 2009, 1000 delegates from across India will evaluate the conditions of working people in the country; debate the attack on the democratic rights of working people by capital; critically discuss discrimination at the work place by gender and by caste, and the complete absence of any substantial social security for working people in the country. Comrades from NTUI affiliates representing workers from 17 states, from just about every sector ranging from the highest technology industries of electronics, automobiles and petrochemicals to large numbers of informal sector workers in construction, transport, and rural work will share their union experiences. Women workers from diverse sectors like garments, anganwadi, domestic work, sex work will be represented by their delegate representatives.
This second General Assembly marks the coming together of the highest constitutional decision making forum of NTUI, to evaluate strategies and struggles, for the first time since its foundation as a national trade union centre in March 2006. At the General Assembly, the programme for the next three years will be defined, based on the experience of the Indian working class movement and NTUI’s assessment of its organisational strengths. The NTUI’s Principal Office Bearers will also be elected.
Representatives of progressive national trade union centres of India, and progressive trade unions from several other countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa and the USA will be present at the Assembly to extend their solidarity to the NTUI.
The Assembly is a time for serious deliberations. It is also a time for celebration. On each the evening we will have a group of singers and musicians, a play, and a cache of films that mark the best of the cultural traditions of the Indian working class movement. This will be an opportunity for each delegate to exchange experiences, get to know the working class and trade union situation in different parts of the country, and contribute to the working and growth of NTUI. We welcome all delegates to the second General Assembly.
In solidarity,
Ashim Roy
Continue reading at http://ntui.org.in/bulletin/november-2009/