The 5th State conference of the Jharkhand State non-gazetted workers’ mahasangh was held on 23-24 May 2015 at Com. Sadhusharan Ram Manch of the Van Sabhagaar (Subodh Narayan Choube Sabhagaar) in Doranda (Ranchi). After flag hoisting by State President Sushila Tigga and tributes to martyrs, proceedings began under Chairpersons Comrades BD Das, Sushila Tigga and Singheshwar Ji and a 3 member steering committee of Comrades Ajit Prasad, Chandrashekhar Singh and Gopal Sharan Singh.
Leader of Bihar workers’ movement Com. Rambali Yadav and Jharkhand AICCTU General Secretary Com. Shubhendu Sen were present as special guests. Com. Somar Oraon welcomed the gathering by remembering former AICCTU national President and father of Bihar workers’ movement Com. Yogeshwar Gope. Inaugurating the conference, AICCTU national Vice President Com. Swapan Mukherjee said that Yogeshwar Gope, Subodh Narayan Choube and Sadhusharan Ram are shining examples of development of class consciousness in the workers’ movement. These leaders developed the revolutionary tradition in workers’ struggles. In addition to unifying the workers’ movement, they also joined it to the revolutionary trade union tradition of AICCTU and strengthened the communist party foundation in the workers’ movement. True tribute to these departed leaders can be paid only when the above three points are fully incorporated into the workers’ movement.
Com. Swapan Mukherjee further said that “Make in India” means corporate raj, and maximum profit and cheap labour for the corporate houses. All legal and constitutional principles with regard to workers’ rights are going to be scrapped through the amendments to the labour laws. Wage differences are at their peak in the organized sector. Now even pension funds and EPF are being put into the share market. Workers on contract, honorarium, and incentive payment are also government employees but they are not permanent. This is the reason the mahasangh needs to organize contractual, honorarium, and incentive workers and fight for their minimum wages and regularization of appointment. The mahasangh can become a mass base organization for struggle, and can play a big role in changing society and regime by uniting with the country’s workers’ movement.
The conference was also addressed by West Bengal leader Com. Anjani Bishwas, Bengal secretariat leader Com. Shriman Guhaji, Bihar Non-gazetted Workers’ Mahasangh (Gope group) General Secretary Com. Premchand Sinha, Jharkhand AICCTU State Secretary Com. Bhuwaneshwar Kewat, and Com. Sukhdev Prasad. The reports by Mahasangh General Secretary Com. Subal Thakur and State Secretary Com. Sushila Tigga were presented and were unanimously passed after detailed discussion. Next, a 27 member State committee was elected. Com. Sushila Tigga, Com. Subal Kishor Thakur, and Com. Brajesh Kumar Singh were elected President, General Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Com. Singheshwar Singh and Com. Tarini Prasad Kamat were elected honorary President and chief patron respectively.
It was resolved at the conference that 10 chosen districts would be developed as strongholds of workers’ movements and activists would have to take serious initiatives for this. The first priority of the mahasangh would be to mobilize the huge base of incentive, honorarium, and contractual workers.
