End of Democracy in West Bengal, India

Unions see a role reversal

Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, Udit Prasanna Mukherji & Suman Mondal | TNN 17.11.11

Haldia: Flags at the factory gates changed overnight after Trinamool Congress came to power on May 13. It marked the end of the Citu era in Haldia that rarely happens for trade unions elsewhere in the country. But in Bengal, the Citu leaders identified themselves more with the ruling CPM to exercise control on all the stakeholders – from the employees to their bosses. Stripped of power, the Citu-affiliated trade unions crumbled like a pack of cards. The members have virtually gone underground after handing down the mantle to the rival Trinamool-backed union leaders who faced a similar fate when the Left was in power. 
    The once-all-powerful CPM zonal secretary Sudarshan Manna can’t even move out after sundown, such is the scare. A total 43 Citu offices in this industrial belt had to be closed downwith the leaders huddling in the Sukumar Sengupta Bhavan, the CPM’s Haldia zonal office and the Left Front’s last fortress in Haldia. 
    “We cannot even sit at Shramik Bhawan, the Citu headquarters in Haldia. Only some of our port labourers go there and leave before sunset. You cannot imagine the extent of terror we are facing,” said Manna. 
    He claimed that they still have a support base among the majority of labourers. But they are scared to come out in the open with us. “There is no democracy in Haldia. What is going on here is a mockery of democracy,” Manna said. 
    Manna’s remark sounds similar to the Trinamool’s comments when Haldia MP and CPM strongman Laxman Seth held the sway. When TOI reporters met Trinamool labour wing leader Azizul in 2010, he said: “We are not even allowed to enter the factory gates. If any of our supporters dares to go near the factories, he is chased away.” 
    The CPM zonal office puts on a rather desolate look, with a handful of leaders roaming around lazily. “It is a political struggle. We have lodged more than 100 complaints with the police, without expecting any action. All these complaints are for records only. Right now, we cannot operate openly,” said Manna. 
    Manna, who refused to get photographed, shied away from making a specific allegation against the Opposition. “There are extortions, ransom demands, infighting. I am not interested in talking about specific cases. It is an open secret. Everyone in Haldia knows who is doing what.” 
    Unable to maintain its branches, Citu is now merging its branches into one. “It is not that we have given up the political struggle. But we are doing it much cautiously,” the veteran trade union leader said. But the man who used to call the shots in the Left’s heydays, Laxman Seth, remained beyond the reach of the media. “He is now out of Haldia,” Manna said.

CM's party in West Bengal sucks Industries

Jobs cut, monthly pay intact

Backed By Unions, 1,000 Casual Workers Refuse To Quit

Udit Prasanna Mukherji & Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay | TNN 17.11.11

Haldia: Faced with losses of Rs 600 crore this fiscal, the management of Haldia Petrochemical Limited (HPL) reduced its hired car fleet by 25% last month to trim expenses. The move was part of a larger cost-cutting exercise across various departments that made around 1,000 of the 1,800 casual workers engaged in HPL redundant. But all of them, blessed by their powerful unions, have refused to quit and continue to draw their regular wages, rendering the whole cost-cutting operation ineffective. 
    Now, as the petrochem giant fends for survival strategies, it continues to issue paycheques worth around Rs 1.5 crore every month to workers not even on the payrolls. Partha S Bhattacharyya, managing director of HPL, said, “The decision was taken as part of the overall cost-cutting exercise. One needs to understand that.” The average monthly pay of an HPL casual worker is Rs 10,000-12,000. “This (paycheques to redundant workers) will affect the margin by Rs 15-18 crore this year,” an HPL official said. Such workers are not HPL recruits but are hired by private contract agencies that are close to the trade unions. 
    The much celebrated political change appears to have done little for Bengal’s largest industrial town, where Trinamool Congress-backed labour unions continue to hold sway and issue diktats in the same fashion that Citu did during Left rule. “When Citu controlled the unions, it forced HPL 
to employ these casual workers. Now, only the signboard has changed and Trinamool-backed labour wing INTTUC has taken over. Nothing else has. We have told union leaders to redeploy the excess labour in other companies. But they are not listening. The company will not survive if they continue to step up pressure,” the official said. 
    HPL officials also alleged the productivity of most of these casual workers is very low. “They are unskilled workers. In Gujarat, if you change contractors, the new contractor has the right to deploy a new set of workers. But here, you cannot do that. And we cannot change the contractors either because no good contractor is willing to come,” an official said. 
    Milan Mondal, working president of the INTTUC-affiliated HPL casual workers’ union, does not think casual labourers at HPL are in excess. “This is a ploy to get rid of workers,” he said. 
    Amid a fierce battle among INTTUC factions for control of unions, HPL’s highly skilled permanent employees — numbering around 400 and most of them engaged in technical jobs — are putting up a brave face. A majority of them have shunned unions affiliated to a political organization. 
    Narayan Chakraborty, an employee of plant materials department, said Citu had forced them to form a union a few years back but they never took active part in the union’s 
activities. “Now, the Citu union exists only on paper. They do not have any influence on us. If INTTUC approaches us, we will say no,” he said. Dibakar Karmakar, an employee of the instrumentation department and Dipnarayan Sarkar, who works in logistics, share the same view. “Why should we form a union when we can approach the management on our own?” Sarkar said.

Related Post: Bengal Insdustries getting sick for extortion demand by CM's party

Bengal Industries getting sick for extortion by ruling Trinamool Party

Extortion Strangles Haldia Trade

Bengal’s biggest industrial hub is gasping for breath. Toughs owing allegiance to the ruling party are bleeding companies dry. What makes it worse is that there are many factions fighting for the spoils

Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay & Udit Prasanna Mukherji | TNN 17.11.11

Haldia (East Midnapore): Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL), the flagship of neo-industrialisation, decided to slash its fleet of cars as a costcutting measure in October. It could shed the car fleet, but could not get rid of the drivers. Result: HPL is paying out the wages of these idle drivers engaged by contractors. 
    Mitsubishi Chemicals (MCCPTA) lost one manday because Trinamool Congress goons demanded a huge sum from the transporters on Viswakarma Puja. The extortionists backed down only when the news reached the state secretariat. 
    

On November 1, goons punctured more than 2,000 cartons of edible oil at Emami Biotech

On November 1, Emami Biotech officials were shocked to see that goons had punctured more than 2,000 cartons of edible oil with knives or screwdrivers. The oil spilled all over the floor of factory’s packaging shed. A complaint was lodged at Haldia’s Bhawanipore police station. The loss was worth Rs 10 lakh. Police retrieved a poster addressed to the labour contractor threatening him with dire consequences. 
    The state’s biggest industrial hub, Haldia, is in dire straits. And it’s not just the economic downturn. Extortion by toughs owing allegiance to the ruling party has become a rule in Haldia — only the party changes with the change of guard at Writers’ Buildings. 
    There was a time when companies used to dispatch the wage bills of workers to the Haldia Citu office from where workers on contract got their wages. With the CPM hegemony gone, Trinamoolbacked unions are desperate to gain control of this “gold trove”. Unlike the CPM era, there is no one Laxman Seth in the area. The new extortion regime has given birth to many such Seths who have started flexing their muscles at the slightest pretext to have their way. If some of these local touts enjoy the confidence of Trinamool MP Subhendu Adhikary, the budding monarch of Haldia, there are others within the Trinamool to queer Adhikary’s pitch. They all swear by Trinamool MLA Shiuli Saha. Investors ignoring this political parameter are bound to suffer. 
    There is no point looking at a single window solution to this problem. It’s not feasible to come all the way to meet chief minister Mamata Banerjee or send an SOS to industries minister Partha Chatterjee for the daily hazards. The politics here revolves around the small-time leaders looking for short-term gains. They are not bothered with the company’s financial health or its future. They want to get their men absorbed in the company payrolls, and not the other way round. And if someone in the Trinamool-backed labour unions takes a pragmatic stance, he runs the risk of getting outnumbered by his factional rivals. 
    The industry has now become a war front with the threats and sabotage turning into full-scale armed clashes to establish hegemony. 
    Managers of industry are now unable to find a method in the madness. They do not know who to negotiate with on wage disputes or other trade union demands. “There is no end to the wheeling-dealing. If we agree to the demands of one 
    faction, we 
    earn the wrath of the other. And yet another group comes up with another charter of demands with a vengeance. We are facing threats and counter threats. In the Left regime, we knew that dealing with the Citu was the ‘be-all-and-endall’ of the issue. But now it is getting tough by the day,” an industry representative said. 
    The desperate situation has prompted the Haldia Council of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce to convene an emergency meeting on November 30. HPL managing director and Haldia Council’s chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said: “All industry related matters will be discussed in the meeting.” 
    Prior to this discussion, the industry needs to lend ear to what the Trinamool foot soldiers in Haldia have to say. Haldia town Trinamool Congress vice-president Pintu Bhattacharjee and Trinamool MLA Shiuli Saha went hammer and tongs at party MP Subhendu Adhikary. 
   

In the name of the Trinamool trade union, some people are extorting and amassing personal wealth. Neither the party, nor the labourers are benefited. We are the original flag-bearers of the party when the Trinamool was constantly under attack. But when we sought affiliation of our trade union, we were denied by state-level leaders. We have formed a parallel INTTUC union at each company as we can only protect the interest of workers. Our leader Subhendu Adhikary has brought some hooligans from outside to run the Trinamool labour wing at different units. These hooligans are extorting labourers, extracting ransom from industrialists and selling jobs at a premium 
—Pintu Bhattacharjee | INTTUC LEADER & HALDIA TOWN TRINAMOOL CONGRESS VICE-PRESIDENT

 “We represent the original party. We built the party’s base, brick by brick. But now we find ourselves left behind. Our leader Subhendu Adhikary has brought some hooligans from outside to run the Trinamool labour wing at different units. These hooligans are extorting labourers, extracting ransom from industrialists, selling jobs at a premium,” they said. 

Some opportunistic people, who have come to Trinamool from the CPM, are trying to defame the party and its leader Subhendu Adhikary. We have affiliation. Others who are trying to pass off as the real INTTUC have not been affiliated by the party. What they are doing is unconstitutional. The allegation of extortion against us is baseless 
—Milan Mondal | IINTTUC LEADER

Milan Mondal of the Subhendu faction denied the charge. “Some opportunists from the CPM, who are claiming themselves to be Trinamool workers, have been trying to fish in the murky water. They are trying to defame the party.” However, Mondal admitted that there was some “overdoing”, when specifically asked about the Mitsubishi transporter extortion case. 
When asked about the involvement of dubious characters like Selim, Arman Bhola, Mona Jana and Subal Middadas — all of whom have criminal antecedents — in the trade unions, Mondal saw nothing wrong in it. He described them as “social activists”. “We could not have countered the Citu without them. If you are in danger, they will be the first to come to your rescue. They are the true Trinamool workers. In the Left regime, police booked almost all the leaders worth their salt under heinous sections. So don’t be taken by the police records.” 
    A few days ago, Gokul Tung, a tough of the Shiuli faction, allegedly threatened independent workers agitating at KS Oil gates under the banner of Jana Jagaran Mancha. Tung warned them of a severe beating if they do not come under their fold. 
    If there was any doubt about the Trinamool infighting, hear it in the rivals’ own words. 
    HDA chairman and Tamluk MP Subhendu Adhikary said,” There is no room for confusion. The industry should recognise only affiliated trade unions. Why should it deal with unrecognised ones? There is no truth in the rumours going around. On the contrary, Haldia is experiencing a new dawn with greater productivity, excellent work-atmosphere where both industry and workers can work at peace.” 
    Haldia MLA Shiuli Saha strongly differs. “I am answerable to my people and my voters. I have to raise my voice if my people do not get jobs. If the party MP has his way, why can’t I? I have already written a letter on this to the state leadership,” Saha said. 


BAD FOR BUSINESS
 Haldia is witnessing a new dawn with greater productivity and zero-man day loss. You will hardly find the extortion and blackmailing that existed at the time of Laxman Seth. Citu has been systematically spreading rumours that have no basis 
Subhendu Adhikary | TAMLUK MP & HALDIA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY CHAIRMAN 


There is neither democracy, nor impartial administration. We are not allowed to function. We are being attacked. Labourers are losing jobs if they hold red flags. The industry is suffering as it has to satisfy many demands from various factions 
Sudarshan Manna | CITU DISTRICT COMMITTEE MEMBER & CPM’S HALDIA ZONAL SECRETARY 


We are confused. There are two sets of union leaders from the same party, each claiming to be the genuine one. They place separate charters of demand. If we agree to one, the other comes up with a steeper demand. In the Left Front regime, Citu was at least the be-all-and-end-all 
A top industrialist, AFRAID TO BE NAMED 


The demands of the trade unions remind me of the man who killed the goose that gave golden eggs 
Partha S Bhattacharyya | MD, HALDIA PETROCHEMICALS & CHAIRMAN OF HALDIA FORUM OF BENGAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 


Those who have built the Trinamool in Haldia are being ignored. Some dubious outsiders are getting prominence. The state leadership is also giving trade union affiliation to some particular people, not those who fought for the party despite having been beaten up by the CPM workers 
Siuli Saha | HALDIA TRINAMOOL MLA