INTUC conclave backs Manmohan Singh government's reform policies

THANE: Congress' trade union wing Indian National Trade Union Congress ( INTUC) today appreciated the Centre's "pro-reform policies" even as it expressed the resolve to go ahead with the two-day strike on February 20 next year for redressal of issues concerning common people.

"INTUC appreciates the policies and programmes being pursued by Congress with the aim to give a boost to our economy and for industrial development, which in turn would provide employment opportunities to younger generation," union president G Sanjeeva Reddy told reporters.

Reddy said INTUC, whose two-day national executive meeting began here today, and other trade unions will go ahead with the plan for general strike on February 20 and 21 if "burning issues" are not resolved by government.

The conclave will also discuss on whether the INTUC should create a "separate identity" for itself.

"Prominent among the resolutions to be discussed at the meet is whether to allow INTUC to work as the part of Central trade unions or to strengthen it or create a separate identity," Reddy said.

Among other resolutions that will be adopted at the meeting include better remuneration to contract workers, adopting common minimum wages and to push for raising the interest rate on PF to 9 percent as against the 8.25 per cent advised by the Centre, Reddy said.

"We demand minimum EPF pension at Rs 1,000, removing the ceiling on bonus eligibility, scrapping of outdated gratuity regulations and bring about uniformity in retirement age at 62 years," he said.

1,500 delegates of the trade union from across the country are attending the convention.

Meanwhile, a resolution on supporting Congress in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat is likely to be passed tomorrow, Reddy said.