R Ravi Prasad’s camp ready to enter electoral arena with achievements
Opponent camp enumerating long list of failures of present leadership
Jamshedpur: Tata Workers’ Union, the largest labour organisation of the private sector in the country, may be held one or two months before its scheduled time. If coronavirus does not throw a spanner in the wheel, then TWU elections may even be held in next February-March.
The team of TWU president R Ravi Parsad is working with hectic speed. And his opponent camp too is bent upon ensuring a change at the helms this time.
R Ravi Prasad is scheduled to retire from the company’s service in the next few months. And that is the reason, his camp wants the union elections to be held while he is in active service of the company, so that he remains as TWU president till next elections.
However, whether someone can remain union president after retiring from the company’s service depends largely on the equations he has with the management. Therefore, it is rather premature to guess whether R Ravi Prasad will be able to continue as the TWU president or not and whether he retains his post post-retirement or not. It is also too early to read whether he would be able to win the support of management for continuing on the post or not.
For now, the sitting president’s camp want to enter the electoral arena with its list of achievements.
R Ravi Prasad’s supporters think that the agreement signed with the management on different issues a day back is one of their big achievements. Ensuring job to 500 dependents of those employees who have completed 25 years of service is being counted as one of the trump cards of R Ravi Prasad’s camp. Besides, this camp is also counting on the agreements signed in the interest of the employees.
In view of the positive vibes generated by these agreements, R Ravi Prasad’s supporters feel that early elections would work out in their favour. And therefore all efforts are being made to ensure that the elections are conducted in January-February itself.
On the other hand, the opponent team too is busy with chalking out its own strategy. ‘Silent campaigning’ on the shop-floor has begun. Members are being made aware of the loopholes in the agreements signed with the management and the points where interests of the employees were ignored. The failures of R Ravi Prasad’s team are being enumerated before the members.
The opponents claim that if the union has a strong leadership, it would have the courage to speak in the interest of the workers. This camp is also highlighting the achievements made during P N Singh’s tenure as the union president.
On the other hand, one faction of the employees is also looking for some possibility to get old-timers like Raghunath Pandey and R B B Singh. On the other hand, Rakeshwar Pandey has always been interested in Tata Workers’ Union.
And it means that there are many who nurse the desire to get into leadership position of the union via co-option route.
