The nationwide strike of trade unions against privatization and for labor reforms has shown its effect. We have seen such strikes or bandhs from time to time in recent years. Obviously, by doing this, trade unions raise issues of their own interest, which are related to labor laws, inflation, wages, etc. A major reason why these issues persist is because our policies are based on ‘supply side economics’ rather than ‘demand side economics’. ‘Supply side economics’ means the formulation of policies in the interest of business, so that the supply of products increases. It is believed that due to this, businessmen are eager to invest more, which increases production and the economy grows. But it has been seen that when the demand is low, then this policy does not work. In the year 2019 itself, when the central government reduced the corporate tax under ‘supply side economics’, then investment did not increase due to low demand in the market. The private sector took advantage of this government relaxation to fix its ‘balance sheet’. As a result, our economic growth rate kept falling.
The ‘supply side’ policies are pro-business and anti-working class. The workers are agitating today because after the economic reforms, policies have been made in the interest of the capitalists. The corona pandemic has done its best. In this the condition of laborers especially in the unorganized sector has worsened. The data released by the Reserve Bank after studying 1,500 companies shows that during the Corona epidemic, the profit of the corporate sector has increased by 24 percent, while unemployment and inflation have broken the back of the working class. It has also hit the organized sector. Especially, the laborers working on the tender have faced a lot of difficulties. During this time, the areas of information technology and technology have done a good job, but sectors like tourism, textile and leather industries have been badly affected by Corona.
One theory of the economy states that the more wages rise, the lower the profits of companies, and the more profit companies make, the lower will be the wages of workers. The attitude of companies in capitalism is to make maximum profit. Since the workers take many measures in the absence of salary increase or socio-economic security, but without seeing any relief, they finally go on strike-bandh. However, a large section of workers is unorganized (45% of the population is engaged in agricultural work) and this section is unable to agitate, so the recent labor movement did not seem to be very effective.
Here is another problem. Labor aristocracy is a major stumbling block of the labor movement. In fact, the working class workers are hesitant to fight with the workers. Businesses take advantage of this. Their intention is also to maintain differences in trade unions. This is the reason why we see many trade unions operating in the same factory. Since there is a lot of turmoil in the working class right now, except the organizations of the ruling party, more or less all the organizations of the country are united and engaged in the movements.
After 1991, ever since the new economic policies have come here, since then it has become a thinking that the new rules and regulations will be against the workers and in the interest of the businessmen. That is why, for almost four years, that is, till 1995, there must have been a movement like ‘Bharat Bandh’ at least twice every year. But they did not have much effect and the situation turned against the workers day by day. If seen, now agitations like strike or bandh are just expressions of the despair of the workers. New studies confirm this. For example, the data of the Price (PRICE) survey, which came in this February at the time of the budget, show that the income of the poorest 20 per cent of the population fell by 50 per cent in 2020-21 compared to 2015-16, while in the same period the wealthiest 20 of the country. The income of per cent of the population increased by 30 per cent. Clearly, the disparity between the rich and the poor has increased sharply after 1990-91, which has increased the hardships for the working class.
Governments have also played a big role in this. The rights enjoyed by the workers between 1950 and 1990 were gradually taken away from them in later years. Economic policies were made in the interest of businessmen. This has increased the dilemma of the workers. The workers, especially in the organized sector, are afraid that if they lose their jobs, they will also become a part of the unorganized sector, whose condition is very bad.
Needless to say that the governments should think in the interest of the workers. Had there not been such a large unorganized sector (this is what I call the ‘Reserve Army of Labour’) in our country, the workers would have been able to bargain much more. But it is not so. Then, cutting-edge technology has replaced workers, especially in sectors such as banking. Therefore, workers should undoubtedly be supported. In today’s time it is very important to create employment, control inflation, provide socio-economic support to workers, maintain transparency and carry forward labor-friendly policies. Henry Ford once said that unless my worker can buy my car, what will it do to ‘mass production’ the car? His gesture was towards increasing the demand in the market. Today’s governments should take a lesson from this. Workers must get ‘living wage’.
(These are the author’s own views)