Bangalore:
A meeting of representatives of Dalit workers employed in the Central public sector units here was held on May 17, to consider the special problems facing them.
Representatives of HAL, BEL, ITI, HMT, BEML attended the meeting. D.M. Thimmarayappa, Convenor presided.
A. Naryanaswamy, former vice president of the BEL SC & ST Welfare Association, said out of the 70,000 employees in the Central Government industries in the city, 9,000 were Dalits and most of them were working as sweepers and scavengers.
Govindraj, general secretary of the BEL SC & ST Welfare Association, said neither the management nor the union bothered about Dalits. This complaint was voiced by representatives of all SC & ST Welfare Associations of different public sector units.
Sridhar suggested that the only way out is to form a trade union of SC & STs under the DAC and this proposal was accepted in principle. They felt that the unions controlled by the upper caste leadership are not sympathetic to the plight of Dalits. Hence the need for a Dalit trade union.
V. T Rajshekar Shetty, journalist and writer, said the Gujarat Dalit Panthers were thinking of forming a trade union of of their own in Ahmedabad as the Dalit workers were facing problems from both unions and the management. Dalits in bigger cities were also thinking on this line. This was a healthy development, he said.
It was decided to call for a bigger meeting of Dalit representatives to consult them on this suggestion.
