LABOUR POLICY OF GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 245
With regard to the question of want of uniformity, I will very readily admit that there is no uniformity, that different classes of employees of the Government of India are paid at different rates. But, Sir, the question I would like to ask is—who is responsible for this want of uniformity. I have no hesitation in saying that if anybody is responsible—for the want of uniformity in dearness allowance it is Mr. Joshi himself.
Mr. N. M. Joshi : Why ? I am not the Government.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : When I say ‘My Joshi’ I mean the whole of the Labour organisation. It is they who are responsible for this want of uniformity. What has happened in the matter of the grant of dearness allowance is this. You have got different sections in the labour world. You have got a body like the Railwaymen’s Federation, a body like the Posts and Telegraph Union, like the Textile Union and so on, and there are lot of other people among the working classes who have practically next to no organisation. I think Mr. Joshi will agree that the policy followed by most of these labour organisations is really nothing else but a policy of organised loot, the first man trying to take whatever he can from the Government of India, leaving the rest of the people uncared for. Here is the Railwaymen’s Federation which meets the Railway Board, uses its power-politics and compels the Railway Board to grant the highest degree of dearness allowance. Then comes the Posts and Telegraph Union. They wait upon my Honourable friend in charge of that department. They threaten him with strike. They tell him that they are the most essential part of the service to the country and they eke out from him something which they think is best for themselves. The rest of the people have nobody to look after their cause and I have certainly not seen any move on the part of what are called the All-India Trade Union Congress or the All-India Labour Federation to come together and work out a policy which could be applied uniformly to all the working classes and to the men in the service of the Government.
Mr. N. M. Joshi : Is it not the duty of the Government of India to formulate a uniform policy ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Yes, certainly, if we are left free to do so. But every time a section of the labour world comes