Left Wins Ordnance Factory Dum Dum Election
Mazdoor Union members celebrate the Works Committee election win at the Ordnance Factory Dum Dum, West Bengal, on Saturday.
Left-leaning Mazdoor Union, affiliated with All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), defeated the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Works Committee election at the Ordnance Factory Dum Dum on Saturday.
The union also won the recent elections at West Bengal’sthreeother ordnance factories—Gun & Shell Factory, Kashipur; Rifle Factory Ishapore (Ichapur) and Metal& Steel Factory (Ichapur).
“This victory is a strike by workers against the Modi government’s attack on the defence industry,” Mazdoor Union joint secretary Arindam Sen said after the landslide win. “It is a verdict against the government tyranny and regional trade unions at the Dum Dum factory. The labour union will always stand by workers,” he added.
AIDEF organising secretary Debjyoti Bose said, “This is a victory against the Modi government’sattack on defence industry workers. In the coming days, all workers should join the nationwide struggle against corporatisation under AIDEF’s leadership.”
Dum Dum-Kashipur Ordnance Factory Labour Union won five of the seven seats in the Dum Dum Defence Industrial Factory Works Committee on Saturday. The TMC union won two seats while the BJP-affiliated BPMS did not win even one.
Leftcandidates who won the election were Arindam Sen, Kallol Sengupta, Sanjay Ghosh, Biswajit Bhattacharya and Biswajit Mandal.
According to Mazdoor Union leaders, factory workers were angry for the last two years against the “arbitrary attitude of the authorities and financial loss”. The TMC pressured the workers, resulting in financial loss, it alleged.Workers are unitedly fighting the “government’s corporatisation and the dissolution of the factory’s board”, the union said.
As of October 2021, 41 ordnance factories have been taken over by seven private companies. The Centre took the first step towards privatisingordnance factories by appointing a board that will govern the corporation of every factory. Besides, recruitment to ordnance factories has been frozen.
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