abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
According to the trade unions, the privatization policy is not a “home-grown” product. They believe that the Indian government has been inspired and influenced by foreign-based multilateral bodies like the World Bank and the IMF.
Instead of targeting the World Bank and the IMF for their policies, the trade unions target the Indian government for the treatment meted out to them. People targeted the government rather than the multinational trade bodies and this was because of the ease of accessibility to something that is local rather than global.
Trade unions have been protesting against the privatization program because the public sector has been an important employer, especially in the organized labor market. The sector accounted for 56.84 percent of the total number of 14.3 million employees in the organized sector in 1980-81.
From about 8.1 million in 1980-81, those employed in the public sector manufacturing increased to 9.8 million by 1990-91. In spite of efforts at downsizing the workforce by public sector during the nineties, the number of employees remained at 9.8 million at the end of 1996-97. During the nineties, its share in total hovered around sixty percent.
The other concerns of the trade union members in the public sector enterprises is that privatization could result in sub-contracting which would result in the replacement of permanent and better-paid jobs with low wage unorganized casual labor.
Second, they believe that the adoption of new technologies would result in lowering of the overall labor requirements and make certain types of jobs redundant. There was also the possibility that technological up gradation would enlarge the demand for certain types of skilled employees and thereby reduce avenues for employment in certain sectors. It can be seen that the concerns of the organized workforce in the public.
Instead of targeting the World Bank and the IMF for their policies, the trade unions target the Indian government for the treatment meted out to them. People targeted the government rather than the multinational trade bodies and this was because of the ease of accessibility to something that is local rather than global.
Trade unions have been protesting against the privatization program because the public sector has been an important employer, especially in the organized labor market. The sector accounted for 56.84 percent of the total number of 14.3 million employees in the organized sector in 1980-81.
From about 8.1 million in 1980-81, those employed in the public sector manufacturing increased to 9.8 million by 1990-91. In spite of efforts at downsizing the workforce by public sector during the nineties, the number of employees remained at 9.8 million at the end of 1996-97. During the nineties, its share in total hovered around sixty percent.
The other concerns of the trade union members in the public sector enterprises is that privatization could result in sub-contracting which would result in the replacement of permanent and better-paid jobs with low wage unorganized casual labor.
Second, they believe that the adoption of new technologies would result in lowering of the overall labor requirements and make certain types of jobs redundant. There was also the possibility that technological up gradation would enlarge the demand for certain types of skilled employees and thereby reduce avenues for employment in certain sectors. It can be seen that the concerns of the organized workforce in the public.