Why trade unions are cautiously welcoming West Bengal’s industrial drive

A dingy staircase leads to the first floor of the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) in central Kolkata. The surroundings—a dense landscape of ageing buildings that house commercial outlets—offer a reminder of West Bengal’s troubled industrial past, marked by the closure of around 50,000 factories over the past several decades. The 34-year left front rule, followed by 15 years of the Trinamool Congress, has now given way to a six-month-old BJP government that has been promising to transform the state into an investor-friendly destination.

Since coming to power, the Suvendu Adhikari government has been keen to project its industrial ambitions through a series of foundation-stone laying ceremonies. A major announcement has been the Adani Group’s proposed Rs4,000-crore investment in a 2,000-bed hospital called Arogya Mandir at the Silicon Valley Tech Hub in New Town. The foundation stone was laid in September. The most recent announcement is from Reliance Industries Limited, which plans a Rs600-crore food and beverage park at Haringhata in Nadia district. The chairman of Vedanta Group has also met the chief minister to discuss investment plans.

Commerce and Industries Minister Tapas Roy rules out the possibility of trade unionism standing in the way of industrial growth and economic optimism. “The [time of] aggressive trade unionism is over. The government has taken decisions and policies to make sure there is no trade unionism,” said Roy.

Debasis Bhattacharya, general secretary of the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, believes trade unions will not pose the kind of problems they did under previous governments. “The government changed because the mindset changed,” he said. “People want industries and jobs.”

Last month, BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal launched the party’s first trade union at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. Bansal said the new union would protect workers’ rights and function in a transparent manner. “Our government will work towards fulfilling the dream of a developed West Bengal,” he said.

Aritra Chatterjee, state co-convenor the BJP’s trade union relations cell, said the party had been working with contractual workers in various sectors for the past four years. The new union, he said, will work to safeguard workers’ rights. “With the benefit of the state’s double-engine government, the current minimum daily wage of Rs230 should be raised to match the national minimum-wage levels,” he said.

According to Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, the founding president of the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress, the right to organise remains both democratic and constitutional. With two factions emerging within the Trinamool in recent months, the faction led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee is looking to revive its trade union presence.

As for the BJP’s promises to revive industries, Chattopadhay prefers to adopt a wait-and-watch policy. “We welcome industry and employment,” he said. “It is the need of the day.”

Samar Sinha, member of the national secretariat of the All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC), said efforts were on to conduct workshops across the country to educate its members about the new labour laws, which he said were in favour of employers rather than workers. “We are not against industrialisation,” he said. “We ask for rules, regulations and workers’ rights to be ensured.”

Trade unions affiliated with the left front acknowledge that around 50,000 factories shut down during the left’s tenure in the state. But, according to them, trade unionism alone cannot be blamed for the decline. “There were various other reasons,” said Basudev Gupta, member of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

The decline, he said, can be attributed to owners who shifted their businesses out to states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra, as well as to south India, where they found more favourable conditions and lower labour costs. With the new government’s efforts to attract industries, Gupta is concerned that labour laws that restrict workers’ right to strike could weaken their ability to negotiate for legitimate demands.

Former labour minister Anadi Sahu, who heads the CPI(M)-affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), welcomed BJP’s industrialisation move. “We want industry in Bengal without compromising on minimum wages and workers’ rights,” he said.

Sahu believes that restricting the right to strike does not necessarily attract investment. “Mamata Banerjee abolished strikes when she was chief minister, and yet no industries came,” he said. “We want industry without compromising on minimum wages and the right of workers to protest.”

Qamrruzaman Qamar, state president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), estimates that 93 per cent of workers in the state are employed in the unorganised sector. Of nearly 10 crore workers in the unorganised sector, six crore receive ration benefits and are entitled to social welfare schemes. According to him, 60 per cent of workers live below poverty line. The growing prevalence of contractual employment, often at the expense of permanent jobs, has raised concerns about workers being exposed to hire-and-fire practices.

Qamar welcomes the prospects of new industries coming to Bengal, but doubts whether the investments would solve the issue of widespread unemployment. “Most industries coming into West Bengal are not labour intensive. Unemployment will reduce only if labour-intensive industries come into the state,” he said. With rural Bengal accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the state’s workforce, he believes agro-based industries offer a more viable route to large-scale employment.

Jute, textiles and tea were once among the industries that defined Bengal’s economic landscape. Today, the tea and jute sectors continue to provide employment to around 3.5 lakh workers. But the decline has been severe—14 government-run jute mills and 15 private mills have shut down over time, resulting in an estimated loss of 1.5 lakh jobs. The state currently has 55 functional jute mills.

The tea industry has also seen closures, with three dozen estates shutting down over the years as owners struggled financially. Of the tea estates currently operating in the state, 11 are government-run, while the rest are privately managed. Qamar said INTUC had the largest trade union presence in the state’s tea industry.

Labour remains relatively inexpensive in West Bengal. The minimum wage across most industries is approximately Rs230 per day. “Parties will change, but the attitude towards workers will not change,” says Qamar, when asked whether the six-month-old BJP government could usher in a new era of industrial growth. He is also critical of the BJP’s promise of double-engine government, arguing that the improved Centre-state coordination implied by the promise actually relies on dole-based politics.

Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya, professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, believes that although trade unions have weakened considerably in West Bengal, the question of land will remain critical to any industrial revival. He is also sceptical about the investment announcements being made by the new government. Much of these announcements, he pointed out, appeared to depend on private capital, at a time when India has been experiencing persistent weakness in its private investment cycle. “I am, therefore, somewhat sceptical about the prospects for a substantial industrial revival in the state,” he said.

The silver lining, however, is improved Centre-state coordination, which Bhattacharya believes may facilitate further investment in infrastructure. “This could be particularly significant to the ports in Kolkata and Haldia,” he said, adding that it could create conditions conducive to some industrial regeneration.