Local unions call shots in Bengal jute mills
Kohinoor Mandal
Calcutta, Dec 29: Leaders of the central trade unions in the jute industry have started realising that leaders at the mills are no longer within their control. On a number of occasions the central leadership has kept itself away from decisions taken by the local leaders. The recent dispute at the Caledonian Jute Mill about the authenticity of the lessor has been a fallout of this loss of control.A similar situation was witnessed earlier this year in R J Brealey's Titaghur Mill No II where two expected lessees appeared with separate agreements with the same unions without the permission of their central leadership. High-level leaders of some of central trade unions said that a number of their local units are not following the organisation's dictum. Instead they are taking arbitrary decisions on critical issues like workers' wages and other incentives. Ganesh Sarkar, secretary of the National Union of Jute Workers (affiliated to Intuc), said that on several occasions local leaders are entering into
agreements with the jute mill owners. "In a number of places we are noticing that the local leaders are not paying heed to the party directives. Instead they are entering into agreements with the jute mill owners without our consent and this is harming the interests of the poor workers," he said.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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