6th AIRPC Conference
The 6th Conference of All India Rail Party Committee (AIRPC) was held at Danapur, (East Central Railway) on 12 – 13 January. 40 delegates attended the conference. Com. Swapan Mukherjee attended the conference as Central Observer. Com. D.P.Baxi, Com. Bahadur Oraon and Com. Sukhadeo also attended the conference. Com. Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML) sent a message to the Conference. Com. R Sen presented the Draft Report before the Conference, which after discussion, was passed by the house unanimously. A nine member AIRPC committee was elected by the conference with Comrade Rabi Sen as Secretary.
Jute Workers' Pledge
Bengal Chatkal Mazdoor Forum (BCMF), the state level Jute Workers Union of West Bengal, an affiliate of AICCTU, commemorated 16 January 2009 - the day of Com. Mahendra Singh's martyrdom - with a meeting at Moulali Yuba Kendra Auditorium, Kolkata, where Jute Workers from across the state participated. BCMF organised the meeting to reflect on the recent struggles and chart a new course of action after the 18-day-long strike was withdrawn on 19 December 2008. A tripartite agreement was arrived at between all the striking unions, including BCMF and IJMA, the association of Jute Mill owners, and workers resumed the work from 20 December 2008. The meeting was presided over by Com. Nabendu Dasgupta, President, BCMF. At the outset, Com. Partha Ghosh Secretary, West Bengal State Committee of CPI(ML) addressed the jute workers. Atanu Chakravarty, General Secretary, BCMF noted that the employers have again started violating the agreement by not paying ad-hoc Rs.500 against the outstanding dues to all the workmen and called upon the workers to organise militant agitational programmes at mill-level demanding implementation of the agreement. Com. Nabendu Dasgupta pointed out that after opposing the strike, CITU is facing total isolation from the workers. The meeting also resolved to launch mill-wise agitational programmes demanding implementation of the agreement, and to participate in the mass rally of AIALA on 20th January 2009. Com. Basudev Bose, General Secretary of WB AICCTU also addressed the workers and appealed to make the 6th State Conference of AICCTU, scheduled to be held on 15-16 February 2009, a grand success.
