Coal Unions Have to Change Their Mindset

A day after Coal India trade unions called off their strike, the Union minister for coal and power has done well to reiterate that the government will stick to its plans to open up the coal industry to private firms and sell its stakes in the state-run Coal India Ltd despite the resistance by mine workers. Increasing competition is the key to meeting demand for cheap coal and realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of supplying round-the-clock power to India’s 1.2 billion people by 2019.

The country still has 280 million people living without power in 56 million homes. The government has no option but to go ahead with reforms in the coal sector and end the monopoly of CIL that has proved inefficient in the matter of meeting India’s growing needs. The trade unions will also have to realise that being a part of a public sector organisation that is hampering growth brings them no credit. Moreover, nationalisation will not deprive anyone of his job. Instead, the prospects of employment will increase if the coal sector is run with greater efficiency. It is the lesson of industrial development that even automation is beneficial since the loss of jobs in one area will be adequately compensated by the creation of jobs in another.

As the economic reforms gather pace, the trade unions will have to make the necessary transition from a mindset formed under a controlled economy where they constituted a privileged group because of their political affiliations even if organised labour makes up for less than 10 per cent of the work force. In an open economy, however, the 90 per cent, who have to fend for themselves, as well as the trade unions are expected to gain in bullish conditions where increasing consumer demands will lead to greater production, thereby boosting the scope for employment and providing better working conditions. Growth is the antidote to the deprivation of the masses, including the workers.