CITU steps up plans to gain entry into tech sector

KOZHIKODE: The national general council meeting of the CITU, which concluded here on Monday, identified the technology sector, including Information Technology (IT) and SEZs, as priority areas to expand its organizational activities.
The trade unions in the country have so far been unable to breach into the technology sector. The general council, the policy making body of the CITU, has included the task of making forays into technology sector as one of the 21 tasks identified for the organization in the updated organizational document.The main task of the general council was to update the Bhubaneswar Document adopted in 1993.
“More attention must be made to organize workers in the strategic and key sectors and the modern high-tech industries and in the SEZs... Efforts must be made consistently and continuously to develop national-level industry coordination wherever possible,” the organizational report approved by the general council said.
“Trade union movements are weak in emerging industries involving large number of new generation young workers. CITU has identified it as a major weakness of the trade union movement and has already taken steps to expand our activities in the sector to cover new generation workers, new technologies and the corresponding advancement in the production process,” Swadesh Dev Roye, national secretary and head, international affairs of CITU said.
In a related development, the CITU has also called for use of social media to reach wider sections of members as part of adopting faster modes of communication. The report says that the membership of CITU was 60.4 lakh in 2015 with membership from West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu making up 60% of the total.
The general council has decided to undertake a joint mobilization drive of farmers and workers in a ‘Mazdoor Kissan Rally’ to be held in New Delhi on September 5. Also, a countrywide protest against the central government decision on fixed-term employment has been planned on April 2.