Amid boycott threats, govt postpones labour meet

Amid a boycott threat from the Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and other trade unions, the government on Tuesday indefinitely postponed the Indian Labour Conference starting on February 26 and to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The trade unions have received  a letter from the Ministry of Labour and Employment regarding the postponement of the two-day conference.

BMS president Saji Narayanan confirmed the receipt of the letter and told DH that no new dates have been intimated to them.

Modi was to inaugurate the conference, to be held after three years, but the BMS had threatened to boycott it, saying their demands were not met in the budget, which they said "totally neglected labourers".

On February 2, it held nationwide protests against the budget and on Tuesday, it observed a black day.

The BMS has also called for a boycott of the conference and  has given a call to organise a protest outside the venue and across the country if its demands  are not met by February 25.

Other trade unions  are  also planning a boycott after an invitation was not extended to the Congress-backed Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), which the government has said was a divided house with three factions claiming to be the real one.

The BMS had objected to the new contract system rolled out in the budget as well as provisions for lower contribution by women workers in Provident Fund.

Its demand also includes increasing honorarium to anganwadi workers, enhancing EPS pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 and providing special funds to sick PSUs among others.