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South Asian unions to hold anti-reforms meet in India

Trade union leaders from five South Asian countries will gather in New Delhi next month to devise a common regional strategy against reforms in the labour sector, an Indian union official said on Tuesday.

Union leaders from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and India will take part in a four-day seminar in the Indian capital starting on August 9 to develop a platform against policies that reduce jobs and make firing of workers easier.

"All of us face a common problem -- governments kowtowing to every whim and fancy of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and introducing policies that are blatantly anti-labour," Sukomal Sen, a senior leader of the All India State Government Employees' Federation, said.

Some 9 million state and central government employees in India took part in a one-day nationwide strike last week against federal plans to cut jobs and grant greater freedom to employers to fire workers.

The AISGEF had jointly given the strike call with the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers to protest against policies they alleged were dictated by the IMF and World Bank.

"The only way we can stop these institutions shoving their policies down our throats is if workers of the South Asian region speak in one voice that they will not accept their policies and the seminar presents us with the best opportunity to do that," Sen said.

India began an ambitious economic reforms programme in 1991 aimed at transforming the world's second-most populous country into an economic powerhouse.

But 10 years later, some politicians and union leaders say the reforms have failed to achieve their objectives and widened the gap between the rich and poor.

Workers are angry about a recent government proposal to allow firms employing up to 1,000 workers to sack staff without seeking prior approval from the authorities. Earlier, only firms with less than 100 workers could lay off employees without government consent.

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