I was fortunate to represent UE at the 3rd General Assembly of the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) of India, and at the international conference that followed. NTUI is composed of 110 affiliate labor unions, ranging in size from 200 members to 120,000. Their purpose is to unify the labor movement in India, which is currently split by political party affiliations as well as the many ethnic and religious divisions that are a legacy of British colonial rule. UE and the NTUI have worked together on a number of international labor issues, and in solidarity in struggles with U.S.-based employers operating in India, such GE, and Indian-based companies that own plants in the U.S., such as Autoline, whose workers are represented by UE Local 735.
The meetings took place from November 19 to 23 in the city of Aluva in Kerala state, which has largely been ruled by pro-worker left-wing parties for several decades. As a result the state of Kerala has less poverty, higher literacy rates and better infrastructure than most of India. The three-day general assembly took place at the municipal town hall, a large auditorium with stadium seating. Sessions lasted until 9:00 p.m. the first two nights and 6:00 p.m. on the closing day.
In some ways the General Assembly was like a UE Convention. Delegates approved resolutions on the economy, the political situation, and the need to end conflict amongst South Asian nations. They elected officers and passed constitutional amendments to further codify democratic practices. The international guests, including myself, were given brief speaking spots. And one afternoon and evening was devoted to hearing from affiliates, whose delegates stood up, one after the other (37 in all), to tell the stories of their latest battles. This was very similar to shop reports at UE regional council meetings.
But in many other ways the meeting was quite different than what UE delegates experience. Meals for the approximately 750 people in attendance were cooked outside the building in huge pots over wood fires, resulting in smoke occasionally blowing into the auditorium. At the start of each session groups of delegates would go to the stage to sing local songs as the rest of the participants filed in to take their seats. The march that kicked off the General Assembly took an hour to set up and then lasted 1½ hours on hot, humid streets with heavy traffic pushing past. But many people on the street stopped to watch and support the march. And the meeting proceedings were interrupted more than once by power outages, with the microphone going dead until the backup generator was started up.
Among the many issues discussed, a few key ones stood out: minimum wage – increasing it, extending coverage to more of the workforce, and actually getting it enforced; contract labor – similar to permatemps in the U.S. and increasingly displacing regular employees; women’s rights in the face of ongoing discrimination and harassment in the workplace and society; and stagflation – inflation is now at 10 percent annually despite a sluggish economy. This has been caused in part by the devaluing of the rupee (India’s currency) which makes exports even cheaper but drives up the prices of needed imports.
Many of the tactics they discussed are very similar to those that workers in the U.S. use to take on their bosses. However, they also make use of rotating hunger strikes and dharnas, which are essentially round-the-clock vigils held outside company offices.
The international conference took place over two days at a nearby YMCA international camp. There were 17 foreign participants, including official union representatives from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, France, Japan, Turkey and the U.S., and guests from Hong Kong and Germany. About 30 NTUI leaders, including all of the top officers, also attended.
The conference was organized into a series of panel discussions on such topics as temporary workers, immigration issues, solidarity, peace and unity, and developing joint strategies. Serious discussions took place on fighting to stop the “race to the bottom”, developing increased support for each other’s battles, and finding ways to bring other unions and organizations on board.
The same issues were present in the reports from all of the countries: wage and benefit reductions; increased use of temporary or other precarious labor; public resources being used for private corporate gain; repression of unions by both corporations and government; exploitation of immigrants; and principle employers shielding themselves from legal responsibility through the use of contractors.
I left Aluva with a better sense of the challenges faced by unions in South Asia. I also left with a commitment to further strengthen UE’s work with the NTUI, especially on supply chain issues, as well as with other allies who were present including the CGT from France and Zenroren from Japan.