The Supreme Court has rendered a signal service to the hostage Indian populace by extricating them from the clutches of labour mafias masquerading as unions who were holding the State and its government ‘to ransom’, to quote the apex court itself. The tone, tenor and the telling observations of the learned judges come as a mighty relief that is bound to stay put for the future too, for such strikes are not only deemed illegal, but also apology letters and undertakings would be perfectly in order, if the government employees were to develop their customary itch.
What a far cry from the hey days of socialist euphoria when strikes were a passion, and a fashion too, amidst the bored and bloated underbelly of bureaucratic India! Indeed, the socialist bubble had burst quite some time back and the red flag had been dumped and buried in the dustbin of history but some habits, particularly the striking habit, had not died away in these unions and their members.
The SC has now sung the requiem for that too, yesterday. By upping their unreasonable demands and resorting to even more unreasonable ways when the times have changed, the government staff have really shot themselves in the foot, nay, all over themselves. Little wonder that the palanquin-bearers of the pampered proletariat have now become its pall-bearers.
Public sympathy for them had ebbed out long, long back. In fact I doubt if it ever existed, for it is ironical on the one hand and also a display of sadistic presumptuousness on the other for the unionised government staff to assume that the public, howsoever magnamious and naive, should take pity on their perpetual tormentors who actually eat out of their pockets.
Political sympathy for their cause was at best lukewarm, with the usual vested interests represented by the political-outs and the left out Lefists making feeble noises. The governments too had long back realised that the doles to this thankless crowd could not be sustained, but never mustered the political will to arrest the trend. What remained was the litmus test in the legal lab.
But with the SC too seeing red, really the true colours, and even going so far as to ask of the counsel if striking was a birthright and then hailing the TN government for its stringent measures in countering the strike, the last door has been slammed on the face of the unions. Indeed, the time is ripe for the government to examine the worth of its staff, in terms of their emoluments and contribution and make ‘such changes’ that would more aptly reflect that worth. Of course, the question of ‘rewarding’ the staff for the strike period should be ruled out; rather a stiff penalty would be in order, perfectly in sync with the letter and spirit of the SC observations. For it is wise to strike while the iron is hot. And now the targets too seem to have been adequately softened!
Much would be made of the SC’s ‘suggestion’ to the State government to reinstate the staff barring those who indulged in violence. But the point cannot be missed that after screaming from roof tops that they would not countenance even the slightest reduction in the benefits accruing to them, the unions, have now been reduced to beseeching for reinstatement with no demands whatsoever! Their kite-flying adventurism has truly gone kaput and their bluff called with finality. For them to claim victory in the views expressed by the SC is laughable. And their open exhibition of relief only exposes their shameless self-serving ways.
Again, the SC has only ‘suggested’ to the government to be ‘magnanimous’. It has refrained from telling the government to ‘be reasonable’. For if the test of reason were to be applied most of the strikers would not set foot in the precincts of the government offices for a long time to come. And so it has to be only charity again. Compassionate grounds! Aah, now they would know what job security is all about and how blessed they have been all these days. Hope they remember this and behave.
Now, this is no en masse condemnation of the working class. We are only stating our inability to treat a great bulk of the government staff as truly ‘working’ class! And that the real working class live outside the dusty, musty but secure confines of the government offices .. in streets, in villages, everywhere. These, the true toilers of the country, are not ‘unionised’ and that is perhaps the reason why they are neither lazy nor lethargic for then their daily bread would be in jeopardy nor are they greedy and insatiable for they know reality.
They do not live out of others’ compassion nor are their lives secure, not to speak of their jobs. The self-styled champions of the working class would do well to cast their glances in the direction of this vast mass of not-so-lucky humanity littered all over India, rather than play ball with the organised unions who are just a pittance of the population.
The TN government has shown the way. The SC has certified and endorsed the same. It is time for the entire ruling class in the country to take the cue. Not seizing the opportunity would be akin to courting blackmail and its inevitable fallout, bankruptcy!
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