Times have changed and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has changed too.

Long known for its militant trade unionism with crippling bandhs, dharnas, gheraos leading to violence, loss of man days and production in industries, the CITU is now trying to rediscover itself, trying to woo the urban youngsters working in shopping malls as salespersons, delivery boys and professionals in the IT industry of Kolkata.

The CPM’s trade union wing is bringing together salespersons in shopping malls, food and parcel delivery boys, drivers of app cabs – who work for long hours with a paltry salary – at a meeting in the city on June 12 to talk about their rights.

“The delivery boys work for over 10 to 12 hours, they pay the fuel for their transport, and if they can’t reach the destination on time, they are unable to earn even Rs 300-400 per day. Sometimes it is even less. If they object, they instantly lose the job. They are unaware of their rights and social securities,” said Debanjan Chakrabarti, general secretary of the CITU Kolkata district committee and one of the secretaries of the organisation in the state.

Interestingly, CITU is not appealing to these workers for membership – perhaps aware that it might not be an attractive offer, after all. “We are not asking them to join us. We are simply going to talk to them about their rights, and will guide them and help them organise themselves,” he said. If they are eager to join CITU, that option is open too.

Another objective of the June 12 meeting is to appeal to the IT sector employees to organise themselves into unions or to form organisations that look at employees’ rights. “For some reason, the employees of IT sector don’t understand our arguments. But we need to find out the reason behind this disconnect. Why don’t they want to be involved in trade union? There must be discussion,” Chakrabarti added.

By bringing together employees – with salaries varying from Rs 6,000 to Rs 1 lakh or more per month, the CITU is trying to reach out to sectors in which it has never had supporters traditionally. The approach is open, restrained and nowhere close to the militant trade unionism the organisation has long been known for.

A food delivery boy, on condition of anonymity, said he had seen a post on Facebook appealing to workers in his sector, and “found it interesting that it was talking about us.” “No one talks about our rights,” he said. And so he has decided to join the meet.

The CITU has steadily lost members over the years. In 2009-10, there were over 1.3 lakh members in Kolkata alone, but the number has come down to 74,000 now. In the past year alone, the number has reduced by over 10,000.

“Since 2011, CITU members have been threatened by the Trinamool Congress workers’ unions to get their membership. Otherwise, they can’t drive autorickshaws, can’t run shops. Under the circumstances, we can’t force them to retain membership,” the Kolkata secretary added.

And therefore this idea for organising a meeting that is more about healthy discussions and forming unions and organisations to demand rights rather than going for gheraos or bandhs.

West Bengal has witnessed militant trade unionism for decades. Strikes, lock-outs, dharnas and gheraos, have been part of the Bengal’s industrial environment for decades.

Towards the fag end of the Left Front government rule, the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen had had many difference of opinion with senior leaders of their party, the CPM and its trade union wing as they asked them to tone down their approach for the sake of the state’s development.

Even former chief minister Jyoti Basu was compelled to issue an “obey or get out” ultimatum to Kolkata Municipal Corporation workers.

In 2009, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said that bandh is bad and gherao immoral. “I am against bandhs. Unfortunately I belong to a political party which calls bandhs. I have kept quiet. But from now on, I’ll not keep quiet. Gherao is illegal and immoral. It is our contribution to the English language. It will not be allowed in the state, he had said in 2008.

(Photographs representational)