Trade unions to boycott pre-Budget meeting

The Central Trade Unions said they were just provided three minutes each with the Minister in a virtual meeting and demanded a physical meeting.

Ten Central Trade Unions (CTUs) have decided to boycott a virtual pre-budget meeting Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had scheduled with them on Monday. The CTUs said they were just provided three minutes each with the Minister and demanded a physical meeting. The CTUs had earlier protested the decision to convene a virtual meeting.

They said the communication from the Ministry made it clear that each CTU will be allowed to speak for three minutes. “This is a joke and we refuse to be a part of such a cheap joke. We will not participate in the proposed video conference on Monday. We urge upon you to seriously reconsider convening a physical meeting with reasonable time-allotment for effective consultation in the pre-budget meeting with the trade unions,” they said.

Joining the debate, CPI MP Binoy Viswam said limiting the meeting time was an arbitrary move. “I wonder whether such a deplorable treatment would be accorded to industrial and corporate organisations such as CII or FICCI,” Mr. Viswam asked.