Railway Loading and Unloading Workers Union held its 3rd conference on Tuesday at Railway Complex, Jammu. Holding red flags, banners and placards in their hands and shouting slogans enthusiastically against the anti-people policies of both the governments at Centre/state and in favour of the united sustained and strong struggle of working people to resolve their issues, the workers held an impressive open session rally at Panama Chowk, Jammu. The rally passed through the Div.Com.office. Railway morh, Narwal Chowk and culminated at Conference venue. The rally was led by M.y.Tarigami, President of J&K CITU and MLA.While addressing the conference, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, President J&K CITU said that gimmicks cannot for ever fool the people, instead experience confirms that people draw lessons from emerging situations and make corrections. The slogan of so-called new India by the BJP-led central government has exposed Mr. Modi so quickly by installing the Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh who is notorious for his divisive and communal utterances. This course has to be changed in order to defend the plural ethos of India. Working class along with democratic sections has to play an important role for this purpose.
Working class cannot defend its rights and promote its struggle for better future unless it is linked with broader movement of the people against such brazenly communal forces. The working people of J&K have been struggling hard for their rights and they have to redouble their efforts to unitedly resist the emerging offensive curtailing their rights.The conference was also addressed by Om Prakash, General Secretary, J&K CITU, and Kailash Chander Nayak, General Secretary. A resolution about the increase in wages by 50%; Providing safety measures, uniform, shoes, masks and gurh to all workers; suitable accommodation with bath rooms, safe drinking water; provision of ESI benefits, gratuity, compensation for injury/death, weekly paid rest, overtime, dispensary and canteen facilities at work place; union office, to and fro free travelling in railways from Jammu to native places; and implementation of the Supreme Court direction for equal pay for equal work was unanimously passed during the conference. A committee was also unanimously elected with Comrade Kailash Chander Nayak as its General Secretary. (CNS)