December 16-31, 2006

Adebate broke out recently within the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) about whether trade unions and strikes should be allowed in the Information Technology (IT) sector.

The IT sector includes computer software and related services, business process outsourcing (BPO) including call centres, etc. Employees in this sector are generally made to work for 12 to 14 hours a day, with no overtime payments. They have no time to spend with their families, and get burnt out early in life. They have no job security either. They can be hired and fired at any time by the capitalist employers. The IT sector has grown so rapidly in recent years that its workers now form a significant and growing section of the Indian working class.

West Bengal Chief Minster Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claims that if IT sector workers are allowed to unionise and resort to strike struggles, this would drive capitalists away from his state. On the other hand, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), which is affiliated to the CPI(M), is under pressure from the workers to help form unions in the IT sector. The contradiction within the CPI(M) has been resolved in this manner: CITU would form an all India association of IT sector workers, with state level chapters, but will not form any union in individual companies. This conclusion was reached as a compromise, so that West Bengal does not lose out of the race among the states for capital investments.

Veteran CPI (M) leader Jyoti Basu has declared, “There is no need for alarm, as formation of such associations does not mean that there will be strike everyday!” CITU's West Bengal secretary Kali Ghosh has given further assurance to the capitalists by saying that what they are forming is only an association, and not a registered trade union! This means that the workers who join this ‘association’ cannot even demand the basic rights granted under the Trade Union Act!

The leaders of CPI(M) claim that only small IT organizations are flouting the labour laws and this needs to be checked. They are hiding the truth that it is the big corporate giants, such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), InfoSys and Wipro, who have been forcing IT professionals and employees to work for 12 to 14 hours a day and 6 days a week, without any overtime payments.

The capitalist class wants to set the clock back by over 200 years, when workers in industrialized countries used to be made to work for 12 to 16 hours a day. Marx explained that a wage worker works only part of each day for his or her own upkeep; the rest of the day is for producing surplus value for the capitalist. By prolonging the length of the working day, the capitalist increases the degree of exploitation of the workers. Those who call themselves Marxists should know that this conclusion is valid in the case of all wage workers, the IT sector included. It does not matter if the wage or salary is higher than in other sectors – it is still a small share in relation to the profits pocketed by the capitalist from the unpaid labour of the workers.

Workers all over the world fought to restrict the length of the working day, as part of the struggle to limit the degree of their exploitation. The right to an 8 hour working day was won through years of struggle by the working class. The capitalist class wants to deprive workers of this hard won right today, even on paper, under one pretext or another.

One of the pretexts being used to deny IT sector workers of their rights is the claim that this sector is somehow special and different from others. The CPI(M) is repeating this capitalist claim. At the end of the West Bengal secretariat meeting of CPI (M), for instance, Jyoti Basu is reported to have said, “The IT sector should not be treated on par with other sectors. We have to consider how the IT sector can be brought under the ‘Essential Services Act’, so that work is not affected by frequent strike calls as might be the case in other sectors”. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also pushes this same line, that the IT sector must be placed in the essential services category.

Why should the IT sector be considered an essential service? Why is it more essential than any other sector of the economy? The leaders of CPI(M) do not have any satisfactory answer to this question. The real reason is that the big capitalists look upon this sector as essential to reap super profits through super exploitation, and do not want any restrictions in their path, such as labour rights. There is no other reason.

It has been reported that there was also a discussion within CPI(M) leaders about whether or not IT sector workers should be called to participate in the upcoming nationwide strike on 14 th December, to protest against the economic policies of the central government. At the end of the discussion, it was decided to postpone this decision until 12 th December. This is nothing but a deceptive way of excluding the IT sector workers from the strike call.

The CPI(M) led Left Front Government is eager to attract the biggest capitalists to West Bengal. It is creating a ‘conducive atmosphere’ for this to take place. In addition to massive tax concessions, it is also offering workers to be super-exploited, with no protection of labour rights. It is acting in exactly the same way as other state governments led by the Congress Party, BJP or some other bourgeois party.

In the Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx & Engels write, “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.” It is clear that the CPI(M) led Left Front Government in West Bengal is doing exactly this: it is managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.