Contract workers' strike at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant: Human Rights Forum condemns privatization push, demands immediate reinstatement

Time of India

3 days ago

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) stands in solidarity with the ongoing agitation by contract workers of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Contract workers at the VSP have been on an indefinite strike for the past 10 days to realise their legitimate rights in the face of sustained threats by the management.
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The HRF, led by KV Jagannadha Rao, HRF AP State President, and VS Krishna, HRF AP and TG Coordination Committee member, demands that the 3,000 contract workers who were recently terminated under the govt's retrograde privatisation policies be reinstated immediately. The management must abandon attempts to terminate a further 1,800 contract workers.
We condemn the management's use of police to intimidate workers instead of engaging in dialogue and seeking a democratic resolution of issues raised by them.
Resorting to fear tactics instead of negotiation, particularly when production at the plant is being affected, is unacceptable.
Contract workers are the backbone of daily operations at the plant, but they continue to be denied basic rights, job security, and dignity at the workplace. Their persistent demands for regularisation and fair wages are met not with dialogue, but with intimidation and removal.
It is common knowledge that the central govt is orchestrating a systematic conspiracy to privatise the steel plant by sanitising its financials—issuing an Rs 11,440 crore package, waiving GST and other dues, and making the plant attractive for private players.
We condemn this attempt to hand over a precious industrial asset—built on the sacrifice of 32 lives and the voluntary land donation by people of 69 villages—to corporate interests on a platter.
In the 40-year history of the VSP, we have not witnessed such intimidation tactics and huge police deployment. The suspension of protesting workers and the issuance of show-cause notices, we believe, are in direct violation of the Industrial Disputes Act of 1948. These actions are nothing but the implementation of the regressive new labour codes that the govt is actively pushing.
HRF calls for the immediate stoppage of punitive actions by the management and a democratic and peaceful resolution of grievances of employees and contract workers at the VSP. All attempts to privatise the steel plant must be halted.