SOURCE: HT
Eighty two thousand civilian employees of India’s 41 ordnance factories will go on indefinite strike after the second week of July in protest against the Centre’s decision to corporatise weapon and defence equipment manufacturing units run by the Ordnance Factory Board of the ministry of defence.
The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon by all three national trade unions, including the Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS) affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The unions, however, said that the strike will be deferred if the killings in Galwan, in which the Indian Army lost 20 soldiers, leads to a crisis. “The nation comes first. If there is a crisis we have to work round the clock and supply equipment to the army,” Mukesh Singh, general secretary, BPMS, told HT.
The date of the strike will be decided in mid-July. The unions decided to go on indefinite strike after their members gave their opinion through ballot between June 8 and 17.
“Ordnance factory workers toiled day and night whenever India was at war with its neighbours. There was no need to corporatize the factories. We are ready to stand up to any crisis,” said C Srikumar, general secretary, All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF).
In a statement, the trade unions described the decision to corporatise the plants “arbitrary, illegal and unjustified” and “in violation of assurances” given by former defence ministers.
“In spite of the Covid-19 lockdown more than 99 per cent employees participated in the ballot and voted in favour of the indefinite strike,” said Srikumar.
The unions started a movement against corporatization in July last year. The agitation started to build up soon after the Centre enforced Arms Rules 2016, which introduced new laws to facilitate production of weapons by private players in collaboration with foreign partners.
https://defencenewsofindia.com/employees-at-41-ordnance-factories-to-go-on-indefinite-strike-against-corporatisation/
