MPA Act 2021 benefits only corporate houses: dock workers

THOOTHUKUDI

The objective behind repealing the Major Port Trust Act 1963 with Major Port Authorities Act 2021 was to benefit only corporate houses close to the ruling BJP in the Union government, said key office-bearers of the All India Port and Dock Workers’ Federation here on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, federation president P. M. Mohamed Haneef, general secretary G. M. Krishnamurthy and secretary V. Satyanarayanan said that they strongly condemned the tabling of the new Act by the Centre, which has neglected the labour policies. Those clauses in the earlier Act mutually benefited both the workers and the management. However, under the guise of giving more autonomy, the Act had been trimmed in such a way that it was anti-labour.

They said that the federation would join the movement organised by major trade unions in the country to face the challenges across the nation. Already, the federation had conducted demonstrations in various ports seeking to include the left out clauses in the new Act.

The wage revision talks were due since January 1, 2022. Even after repeated appeals, the Union government was disinterested in inviting the trade unions and settling them amicably. Likewise, bonus negotiations were also not done for 2021-22. The Centre was keen in encouraging private corporate houses to take over port activities, they alleged.

In the Budget, there was no tangible allocation for port development, while there were announcements for infrastructure alone, which would ultimately benefit the corporate houses, Mr Haneef claimed. He also said that it was disappointing that the Budget had no allocation for implementation of the Sethu Project.