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15 July, 2005ICEM News release No. 4/2000
Thousands of Indian electricity workers have been arrested in a dispute over power privatisation in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Those now in jail include union leaders A.K. Singh and Shailendra Dube.
The Indian and Uttar Pradesh governments must ensure the detainees' release, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) insists. The Uttar Pradesh government and the Electricity Board should also "cancel any decisions taken without consultation" and "return to the bargaining table with sufficient time for a proper discussion with the trade unions on the proposed far-reaching reforms," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs urges in faxes sent today to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta.
Some 90,000 employees of the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board struck for the eleventh day in succession today, essentially in protest over non-consultation on the future of the electricity industry in the state. Power workers in other northern Indian states have been holding stoppages in support of their Uttar Pradesh colleagues. The government plan, backed by the World Bank, is to corporatise the Uttar Pradesh electricity industry into separate generation, transmission and distribution businesses. The ultimate aim is privatisation.
In addition to the arrests, the government has fired many of the strikers. Army engineers have been brought in to man the power stations and new civilian power workers are now being recruited to replace those sacked or arrested. The state has been suffering cuts in its electricity and water supply.
The jailing of union leaders scuppered the latest round of talks between the Uttar Pradesh government and the strikers yesterday. The power workers demanded that their leaders be released to take part in the negotiations, but the authorities refused.
The Indian and Uttar Pradesh governments must ensure the detainees' release, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) insists. The Uttar Pradesh government and the Electricity Board should also "cancel any decisions taken without consultation" and "return to the bargaining table with sufficient time for a proper discussion with the trade unions on the proposed far-reaching reforms," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs urges in faxes sent today to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta.
Some 90,000 employees of the Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board struck for the eleventh day in succession today, essentially in protest over non-consultation on the future of the electricity industry in the state. Power workers in other northern Indian states have been holding stoppages in support of their Uttar Pradesh colleagues. The government plan, backed by the World Bank, is to corporatise the Uttar Pradesh electricity industry into separate generation, transmission and distribution businesses. The ultimate aim is privatisation.
In addition to the arrests, the government has fired many of the strikers. Army engineers have been brought in to man the power stations and new civilian power workers are now being recruited to replace those sacked or arrested. The state has been suffering cuts in its electricity and water supply.
The jailing of union leaders scuppered the latest round of talks between the Uttar Pradesh government and the strikers yesterday. The power workers demanded that their leaders be released to take part in the negotiations, but the authorities refused.