Water Transport Workers Federation proposes to protest on June 7

NEW DELHI : Water Transport Workers Federation of India (WTWFI) has proposed to organise a protest day on June 7 against what they termed the detrimental policies being pursued by the government and port managements.

T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary, WTWFI said in a statement that the working committee meeting held in Chennai has decided to seek support of other sister federations for an industrial action in September by mobilising maximum workers from the major ports.

He alleged that the move of the government is aimed at destabilising major ports and its structure which were set up through public ownership.

According to him, the Government is planning to demolish the public ownership structure by converting major ports into a landlord model. The huge assets created with the funds of the public exchequer are being given away to national/transnational corporates in the name of national asset monetisation.

Besides, the vast land bank of major ports are being given in liberalised terms, diluting the latest land policy management guidelines whereby the base price of port land is being undervalued. The authorities have also come out with new terminologies such as BOT, PPP DBFOT, PrimeMinisters Gati Shakthi master plan, New Stevedoring policy to handover the port infrastructure to private parties.

The Federation also alleged that there are moves to derail the wage structure of port and dock workers which are in vogue for decades together. The wages and other service conditions of port and dock workers are determined through the Bipartite Wage Negotiation Committee. The workers are due for their wage revision with effect from January 1, 2022 for which a joint charter of demands has already been submitted to the IPA well in advance on September 5, 2021.

However, Rao said that the Indian Ports Association has constituted a sub-committee unilaterally to deny the legitimate entitlement of periodical wage revision for port and dock workers.

The national coordination committee of five federations on March 29 highlighted various demands that included expediting the process of wage negotiations without any preconditions; scrapping of National Assets Monetisation in the port sector etc, he added.