Medha Patkar expresses solidarity with protesting ITI workers in Bengaluru

Social and environmental activist Medha Patkar met workers of Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. (ITI) who have been staging a protest in Bengaluru against the management for over a month

Social and environmental activist Medha Patkar met workers of Indian Telephone Industries Ltd. (ITI) who have been staging a protest in Bengaluru against the management for over a month. “The National Alliance of People’s Movements fully supports the struggle of ITI workers and will launch agitations in various parts of the country to express solidarity,” she said at a programme on January 14.

Employees, who have been demanding pending payments and statutory rights, allege that they were not aware they had been hired on contract. When they formed a union to demand their rights in December 2021, they were reportedly barred from entering the premises.

Ms. Patkar, who hailed protesters for their determination, pointed out that though ITI is a public sector undertaking which is required to fill the public treasury, it is being done by stealing from and exploiting contract workers. Unionising is a fundamental and statutory right traceable to the Trade Union Act, 1926, but now in an inhumane manner, managements are victimising union workers, she said.