United Workmen Union stages sit-in demonstration in Guwahati

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Demanding the release of people arrested in the anti-CAA protest without any conditions, the United Workmen Union (UWU) staged a sit-in-demonstration from 8:30 am to 12:30 noon here on Saturday.

The other demands raised by the union include – solving the long-term issues raised by the union, ensuring 80% employment of indigenous candidates in new projects taken up by Guwahati Refinery, scrapping the anti-labourer policies, checking prices of essential commodities etc. Besides doing away with the practice of illegally terminating jobs of labourers, the union also demanded developmental schemes in the Noonmati area under the CSR scheme.

Talking to The Sentinel United Workmen Union president Biren Kalita said, “The workers vehemently oppose the CAA. We demand the release of those arrested in the anti-CAA protest without any conditions. We’ll extend our support to the countrywide strike on January 8. We’ll carry the slogan ‘BJP Hatao Desh Bajao’ if the government doesn’t stop its anti-labourer policy. We’ll continue a long-term protest to reject BJP in the next election.”

“Anti-labourer policies are implemented in Guwahati Refinery where our labourers don’t get the minimum wages. They get fired if they demand sufficient wages. They bring labourers from Jharkhand, Bihar, West-Bengal and Punjab who work for more than 12 hours at Rs. 200-300 per day. Hence we demand to throw away those doubtful illegal labourers and to employ 80% local labourers. We demand judicial safeguard, otherwise, we’re determined to carry out massive protests in the days ahead,” Kalita added. Besides UWU secretary Girish Kalita, representatives of central trade unions, including Assam State CPI(ML) secretary Rubul Sarma, ADVESTO Workers’ Union president Ali Akbar, Noonmati AASU unit president Pranjal Deka and AICCTU’s State assistant secretary Pankaj Kumar Das also extended their support to the demonstration.

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