Unions seek 9.5% EPF rate

Sixth pay commission among the demands presented by labour bodies

Trade unions renewded their demand for the restoration of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) interest rate to 9.5 per cent. They also demanded that a sixth pay commission for government employees be set up.

In their pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the trade unions opposed disinvestment in public sector companies and the increase in foreign direct investment ceilings in telecom, insurance and aviation.

The Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and Sangh Parivar affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha demanded a 12 per cent interest on the EPF or at least a restoration of 9.5 per cent offered till the last fiscal year. At present, the provident fund interest is 8.5 per cent.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) General Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta demanded the introduction of income tax on rural and agricultural incomes, depending on the size of the irrigated land and the wholesale turnover of farm produce.

He also called for enhanced social spending and said the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act should be repealed. The government should prune the defence expenditure, Dasgupta said.

AITUC also wants the government to enhance the corporate tax rate. "If the incidence of taxation remains the same as in 1990-91, at least Rs 30,000 crore will have been additionally mobilised in the current year," said the AITUC memorandum.

It also demands that the jobs guarantee scheme be redrafted. Attacking the United Progressive Alliance government for not adhering to the common minimum programme, it has said the National Employment Guarantee Bill is neither offering jobs nor guaranteeing them to those below the poverty line, including the urban poor and women.

"The government is totally bypassing the common minimum programme and the last Budget did not fulfill the promises made in the programme. We want a redraft of the national employment guarantee scheme," CITU President MK Pandhe said after the meeting here.

G Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress said the government needed to focus on small-scale industries, while suggesting an "unemployment relief" for educated youth and skilled workers.

Demanding a review of the privatisation policy, Hind Mazdoor Sabha General Secretary Umraomal Purohit said the policy had merely led to the closure of PSUs.

Citing the closure of six units of Modern Foods by its new owner Hindustan Lever, he said this amounted to de-industrialisation, which was not in the interest of the economy or employment.