On 25th June, 2024, workers held a militant protest at the office of the Uttarakhand Resident Commissioner, New Delhi. This protest was against the unjust action of the district administration against five workers of Dolphin Company and Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra activist Kailash Bhatt in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. Various trade unions, workers’ organizations and public organizations participated in this protest.
The workers in Dolphin Company have been fighting for their rights since a long time under the leadership of the union. The union is demanding minimum wages, payment of bonus and overtime as per rules, etc. The company manager is forcibly making permanent workers sign resignation letters and employing them in contractor jobs. Show-cause notices have been issued to countless workers and they have been denied entry inside the company without giving charge sheets. The workers have complained to the district administration and the labor department countless times against being thrown out of work. But there is no hearing of the complaints of the affected workers.
Due to this struggle, on 19th June, District Magistrate Udham Singh Nagar issued a threatening notice against five workers leaders of Dolphin Company and worker of Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra under Section 2/3 of Goonda Act to banish them from the district.
Addressing the protest, speakers from the participating organizations strongly condemned this unjust action by the District Officer. Militant slogans were raised in defence of workers’ rights. The protestors also sang many revolutionary songs.
At the end of the protest, a memorandum was presented to the Resident Commissioner of Uttarakhand against the exploitation and oppression of workers and their leaders and torturing them by filing various fake cases against them.
The organisations that took part in the protest were Revolutionary People’s Rights Organisation, Shramik Sangharsh Committee, Belsonica Mazdoor Union (Gurgaon), Progressive Women’s Unity Centre, Mazdoor Ekta Kendra, IFTU (Proletariat), Industrial Contract Labour Union (Faridabad), Democratic People’s Front, Revolutionary Mazdoor Morcha (Haryana), TUCI, Revolutionary Kisan Sabha, IFTU, Mazdoor Sahyog Samiti, Lok Paksha and Revolutionary Student Organisation.