Over the past couple of weeks, a series of gate meetings have been held at the Hindustan Aeronautics Factory (HAL) in Bangalore. These ‘Gate meetings’ have been planned as a means of greater democratization of the decision-making processes within the trade union, and are intended to gather various opinions and demands from various sections of workers in HAL. 10 gate meetings in various divisions of HAL in Bangalore have been planned starting from 20 October 2014 to meet thousands of contract workers and to seek their opinions on union proposals. This is a major exercise towards democratisation and revitalisation of the contract workers union in HAL. Through these gate meetings and the opinions and demands that emerge from them, a concrete and detailed ‘Charter of Demands’ will be prepared. Moreover, workers will also deliberate on the proposed reorganisation of the union functioning through popular elections.
The first meeting was held on 20 October, where workers of engine division of HAL met to discuss their demands. AICCTU State President Comrade Balan as well as AICCTU All India Vice President Comrade Shankar addressed the HAL contract workers. The second gate meeting, this time with the workers of the Foundry and Forge division of HAL, was held on 21 October. The third meeting was held on 24 October, this time with the workers of the Aerospace division of HAL. The issue of parity in wages between different sections of workers was raised and several other demands were also raised to be included in the unions’ consolidated Charter of Demands. The fourth gate meeting was held with the workers of the Overhaul Division of HAL.
